HARRIS ON THE PIG, 

BREEDING, REARING, MANAGEMENT, 



AND 



IMPROVEMENT. 



BY 

JOSEPH HARRIS, 

MOEETON FARM, BOCHESTEB, N. Y. 



ILLUSTRATED. 



KEW YORK: 
ORANGE JUDD AND COMPANY, 

245 BROADWAY. 



%10 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by 

ORANGE JUDD & CO., 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern 

District of New York, 



4 



<? 



-^^ PREFACE. 



Paradoxical as it may seem, in writing a book on Pigc 
and in endeavoring to show that we can obtain more 
meat from a well-bred pig, in proportion to the food con- 
sumed, than from any other domestic animal, it is no part 
of my object to stimulate the production of pork. 

For over twenty years I have had the honor to be con- 
nected with the Agricultural Press of America, and have 
had my thoughts constantly directed to the means neces- 
sary to improve our general system of farming. A farmer's 
son, and myself a farmer, all my sympathies are with the 
farming class rather than with the consumers ; but I am 
satisfied that, in many respects, our interests are identical. 
It should be our study to furnish good food at reasonable 
rates. At the present time the consumers in our large 
cities are obliged to pay much more for flesh-meat than 
it is intrinsically worth; and, on the other hand, with 
the exception of those who produce beef and mutton of 
the best quality, farmers make nothing by raising and 
feeding cattle and slieep. We receive more for our meat 
than it is worth, and yet it costs us more than we get for it. 

The remedy for this unsatisfactory condition of afiairs, 
will be found in cultivating our land more thoroughly, in 
growing better grass, in keeping better stock and in liber- 
al feeding. 

The introduction of better breeds of pigs will in itself 
do little towards improving our farms; but the farmer 
who once uses a thorough-bred boar and adopts a liberal 
system of feeding, will find that he can produce better 
pork at a far less cost than when he uses a common boar ; 
3 



4 HARRIS ON THE VIC 

and he will be likely to study the principles of breeding 
with an interest he has never felt before. The introduc- 
tion of a thorough-bred boar will lead to the introduction 
of a thorouo-li-bred ram and a thoroucrh-bred bull of a cfood 
breed, and this, in conjunction with cleaner culture and a 
more liberal feeding, is all that is needed to give us better 
and cheaper meat ; and at the same time we shall make 
more and richer manure, and be enabled to grow larger 
and far more profitable crops of grain. 

I believe I was the first writer who contended that, 
other things being equal, it was desirable to get animals 
that would eat, dio-est and assimilate a lar<xe amount of 
food. In the following pages I have endeavored to give 
som.e reasons for this opinion and have cited some experi- 
ments that confirm it. If true of pigs, it is equally true 
of cattle and sheep. If generally admitted, it will lead to 
a more liberal system of feeding and to the production of 
more and far better meat. 

It may be thought that I should have said more in re- 
gard to the different breeds of pigs in the United States. 
There is in almost every section a class of useful pigs of 
more or less local reputation ; but it is doubtful if they 
have been kept pure for a suflicient length of time to war- 
rant us in speaking of them as established breeds. And 
even if this were the case, I know of none of them that 
possesses the smallness of offal, perfection of form, early 
maturity, and fattening qualities of the Yorkshire, Essex 
or Berkshire. There is none of them that would not be 
improved in these respects by crossing with a thorough- 
bred boar of either of these breeds. 

Of the diseases of pigs I have said little, for the simple 
reason that I know little in regard to them. Cleanliness 
and good treatment are the best medicines for a pig. 
Anatomically, a pig approximates more closely to a man, 
than any other of onr domestic animals, and if we know 
how to treat a cold or a diarrhoea in ourselves, we shall 




PREFACE. 



not be far wrong in treating a pig in the same way. And 

. so of other diseases. It should be observed, however 

that a pig grows as much in eight months, as a man does 

in eighteen years. This rapid growth enables the pig 

' either to throw off disease in a few days, or failing in 

<this, the disease soon spreads throughout the whole sys- 

I tern and carries off its victim. Thus typhoid fever is often 

so rapidly fatal as to be popularly spoken of as "H02: 

Cholera. " Our first aim, tlierefore, should be to o-uard 

aganist all hereditary diseases in the selection of pigs for 

breeding and to exercise great care iu maintaining the 

health and vigor of our swine. 

In preparing this book, I have corresponded witli many 
experienced breeders, and in the appendix have given 
some extracts from this correspondence. 

We have been asked by a scientific friend to call this a 
book on " the Hog " instead of on " the Pig." If it were 
a work on natural history, hog would be the proper word, 
I but it is purely a practical treatise on domestic swine. A 
pig is a young hog ; and the aim of this work is to induce 
farmers to so breed and feed their pigs, that they will be 
in the pork barrel long before they attain the age of an 
old-fashioned hog. It is proper to speak of " the wild 
hog," and there may be varieties of swine so little im- 
proved as to be hogs still. Let those who have them call 
them hogs, but we cannot see the propriety of calling a 
highly refined Essex or Berkshire pig, a hog. All the 
modern agricultural writers on swine seem to have adopt- 
ed this view. Not one of them speak of the improved 
breeds as hogs. Stephens, in his Book of. the Farm, and 
the writers in Morton's Cyclopedia of Agriculture, treat 
of pigs, not hogs. And Youatt, Martin, Richardson, 
Sydney, and Darwin, all speak of domestic swine as pigs, 
land it is hardly worth while for us to endeavor to change 
the usuage of the best writers. We have no desire to 
have our Western friends speak of the " Magie Hogs " as 



b HAREIS ON THE PIG. 

Pigs. We presume Hogs is the appropriate name for 
them ; but if they sliould find it to their interest to cross 
them with some of the refined thorough-breds, the grades, 
if well fed, will arrive at maturity before they become 
hogs. The wants of consumers, and the interests of pro- 
ducers, call for more pigs, and fewer hogs, and it is the 
object of this work to advocate the change. 

J. H. 

Moreton Farm^ Rochester^ \ 
N. r:, April, 1870. \ 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
Intkoditctort Page 9 

CHAPTER n. 
Breeds of Pigs 14 

CHAPTER III. 
The Form OF A Good Pig 17 

CHAPTER IV. 
Desirable Qualities in a Pig 20 

CHAPTER V. 
Large vs. Small Breeds and Crosses 22 

CHAPTER VI. 
Value of a Thorough-bred Pig 35 

CHAPTER VII. 
Good Pigs Need Good Care 37 

CHAPTER Vm. 
The Origin and Improvement of our Domestic Pigs 41 

CHAPTER IX. 
Improvement of the English Breeds of Pigs 47 

CHAPTER X. 
The Modern Breeds of English Pigs 56 

CHAPTER XI. 
Breeds of Pigs in the United States ^8 

7 



8 HARRIS OX THE PIG. 

CHAPTER XH. 
Experiments in Pi& Feeding US 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Lawes and Gilbert's Experiments in Pig Feeding 122 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Sugar as Food for Pigs 135 

CHAPTER XV. 
The Value of Pig Manure : 137 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Piggeries and Pig Pens 144 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Swill Barrels, Pig Troughs, etc 169 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Management op Pigs 175 

CHAPTER XIX. 
English Experience in Pig Feeding 181 

CHAPTER XX. 
Live and Dead Weight of Pigs 190 

CHAPTER XXI. 
Breeding and Rearing Pigs 192 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Management op Thorough-bred Pigs 203 

CHAPTER XXin. 
The Profit op Raising Thorough-bred Pigs 220 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
Cooking Food for Pigs 221 

CHAPTER XXV. 
Summary 230 

CHAPTER XXVI. | 

Appendix 236 



HARRIS ON THE PIG. 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTORY 



Domestic animals are kept for several objects. The 
Horse, Mule, and Ass, for labor ; the Ox for labor and 
beef; the Cow for milk and beef; the Sheep for wool and 
mutton, and in some countries for milk also; Poultry for 
featliers, eggs, and meat. The Pig, agriculturally, is kept 
for meat alone. The sole aim of the breeder is to obtain 
a pig that will produce the largest amount of pork and 
lard from a given quantity of food. 

The same is true of cattle when kept solely for beef. In 
this case the main difference between the two animals is, 
that the ox is provided with four stomachs, aud is capable 
of extracting sufficient nutriment, in ordinary cases, from 
bulky food, while the pig has but one stomach — and that 
comparatively a small one — and, consequently, requires 
food containing a greater amount of nutriment in a given 
bulk. Grass is the natural food of the ox ; roots, nuts, and 
acorns, worms and other animal matter, the natural food 
of the hog. The pig unquestionably requires a more con- 
centrated food than the ox or the sheep. 

The stomach of an ox weighs about 35 lbs. ; that of a 
Southdown or Leicester sheep from 3 to 4 lbs. ; and that 
of a pig 1:^ lbs. 

The weight of the stomach, in proportion to each one 
9 1* 



10 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

hundred pounds of live weight, is : ox, 3 lbs. ; sheep, 3 to 
4 lbs. ; fat pig, 0.66 lbs. In other words, in proportion to 
live Tv^eight, the stomach of an ox, or sheep, is about five 
times as great as that of a pig. 

It is quite evident, from these facts, that the pig is not 
so well adapted to feed on grass or hay as the ox or sheep. 

This is a strong argument against the hog as an eco- 
nomical farm animal. 

In proportion to the nutriment they contain, the con- 
centrated foods are more costly than those of greater 
bulk. Not only is their market price usually higher, but 
it costs more to produce them. Elaboration is an expen- 
sive process. The common white turnip, containing from 
92 to 94 per cent of water, can be grown with less labor 
and manure, and in a shorter period, than the Swedish 
turnip, containing from 88 to 90 per cent of water, and 
this less than the Mangel Wurzel, containing only 86 per 
cent of water. Carrots, which are still more nutritious, 
are even more costly, in proportion to the nutriment they 
contain. This is probably a general law. 

As the ox can subsist and fatten on less cencentrated 
and less costly food than the pig, it follows, therefore, that 
a pound of beef ought to be produced at less cost than a 
pound of pork. 

There are, however, several circumstances which modify 
this conclusion. Pigs will eat food which, but for them, 
would be wasted. Where grain or oil-cake is fed to cattle, 
a certain number of pigs can be kept at a merely nominal 
cost. We can in no other way utilize the refuse from the 
house and the dairy so advantageously as by feeding it 
to swine. On grain farms, pigs will obtain a good living 
for several weeks after harvest, on the stubbles, and in 
some sections, they find a considerable amount of food in 
the woods. 

Even where we have none of these advantages, the dif- 
ference in the cost of producing a pound of beef and a 



I 



INTRODUCTORY. 1 1 

pound of pork is not so great as the above considerations 
would lead us to suppose. The hog is a great eater. He 
can eat, and digest, and assimilate, more nutriment in a 
given time, in proportion to his size, than any other of our 
domestic animals. 

The extensive and elaborate experiments of Messrs. 
Lawes and Gilbert show that, notwithstanding pigs are 
fed much richer food than oxen and sheep, they neverthe- 
less eat about twice as much food, in proportion to live 
weight, as a sheep. On the other hand, it was found that 
401 lbs. of Indian corn meal and bran (dry) produced 
100 lbs. of pork (live weight), while it required 1,548 lbs. 
of oilcake and clover hay (dry) to produce 100 lbs. of 
mutton (live weight.) 

Why a pig should gain so much more from a given 
quantity of food, than a well-bred sheep or steer, has not 
hitherto been explained. It has been attributed to the 
fict that the pig possesses larger and more powerful as- 
similating organs. 

Thus, Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert say : " An examination 
of these tables [of results of experiments] will show 
that the stomachs and contents constituted 

In the oxen about ll}^ per cent of the entire weight of the body. 
" " sheep " 7)4 " " '' " " " " 

u u pjf^ (( -j^l/ (( u u u a u u 

" The intestines and their contents, on the other hand, 
stand in an opposite relation. Thus, of the entire body, 
these amounted 

In the pig to about 6}^ per cent. 
" " sheep " " Z}4 " " 



oxen " " 93/ 



" These facts," they remark, " are of considerable inter- 
est, when it is borne in mind, that in the food of the 
ruminant there is so large a proportion of indigestible 
woody fibre, and in that of a well-fed pig a comparatively 
large proportion of starch — the primary transformations 



12 HARRIS OX THE PIG. 

of which are supposed to take place chiefly after leaving 
the stomach, and more or less throughout the intestinal 
canal." 

These facts explain very clearly why an ox or a sheep 
can thrive on more bulky food than a pig ; also why a pig 
can assimilate more food than an ox or a sheep, but they 
do not show why a given amoimt of food should produce 
so much more flesh and fat Avhen fed to the pig than when 
fed to oxen or sheep- — unless, indeed, we are to suppose 
that in the case of the ox and the sheej), a considerable 
proportion of the food passes through the body undigest- 
ed and unassimilated. But an analysis of the excre- 
ments indicates nothing of this kind. Except when an 
excessive amount of grain is allowed, the food is unques- 
tionably as thoroughly digested and assimilated in the 
ox and the sheep, as in the pig. 

We must, therefore, look for some other explanation of 
the fact that pigs can gain more rapidly on a given 
amount of nutriment than oxen or sheep. 

An animal requires a certain amount of nutritive matter 
merely to sustain life. This matter may be derived either 
from the daily food supplied, or from matter previously 
stored up in the body. The actual amount required, va- 
ries greatly according to the conditions in which the ani- 
mal is placed. If kept comfortably warm and quiet, less 
is required than if exposed to cold, or compelled to labor. 
But in all cases, wherever life exists, a certain amount of 
nutritive matter is necessary for its support. Directly or 
indirectly, this is always derived from the food. 

How much food is necessary to keep an animal so that 
it shall neither gain nor lose in flesh, has not been accu- 
rately ascertained. Thousands of animals are so kept, 
but the actual amount consumed is seldom determined. 
It often happens that cows, not giving milk, are so kept 
during the winter that they do not weigh a pound more 
in the spring than in the fall. We receive absolutely noth- 



INTEODUCTOKY. 13 

ing for the food they eat. It is all consumed in sustaining 
the vital functions. 

A well-bred Shorthorn has been made to weigh 1,200 
lbs. by the time it was a year old. On the other hand, an 
ox is sometimes kept five years before it attains this 
weight. The Shorthorn was fed a considerable amount 
of food over and above that required to sustahi life, while 
the other had little more than was necessary for this pur- 
pose. Let us assume that the latter ate 4 tons of hay a 
year, and that 80 per cent of it was used merely to sus- 
tain life. At the end of five years he would have con- 
sumed 20 tons of hay, 16 tons of which have been used 
merely to sustain tlie vital functions, and 4 tons have been 
converted into 1,200 lbs. of animal matter. 

The Shorthorn accomplished the same result in one 
year ; and we may reasonably suppose that in this case 
also, 4 tons of hay or its equivalent, were suthcient to fur- 
nish the material necessary for the formation of this 
amount of animal growth. We may further assume that 
at any rate no more food was required to sustain the vital 
functions in the Shorthorn than was required by the other 
animal. This we have estimated at 3 tons 4 cwt. a year. 
It follows, therefore, that the Shorthorn, by eating 7 tons 
4 cwt. of hay or its equivalent, in a single year was ena- 
bled to produce as much beef as the other steer produced 
by the consumption of 4 tons a year for five years. The 
consumption of less than twice as much food enabled tiie 
Shorthorn to increase five times as rapidly as the other. 
Seven tons 4 cwt. of hay, or its equivalent, produced as 
much growth (and probably more beef and fat), when fed 
to the aninial capable of eating and assimilating it. 

These considerations will show why a pig, that can eat 
so much more food than a sheep or an ox, in proportion 
to size, is enabled to grow so much faster, in proportion to 
the food consumed. 

The fact that the pig has greater powers of assimilating 



14 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

food, merely explains why he can grow so rapidly, but it 
throws no light on the fact that he can gain more rapidly, 
in proportion to the food consumed, than any other do- 
mestic animal. The real explanation of this fact is the 
one given above. He can eat more, digest more, and as- 
similate more, over and above the amount of food neces- 
sary to sustain life. 



CHAPTER II. 

BREEDS OF PIGS. 

Like all other animals, pigs adapt themselves to the cir- 
cum>^tances in which they are placed. Where the supply 
of food is scanty and uncertain, they grow slowly, and 
are long in coming to maturity. Where they have to 
travel far in search of their food, they have legs adapted 
for the purj^ose ; and if they are obliged to seek their 
food under ground, their snouts soon become long and 
powerful. Where they are liable to molestation or attack, 
they soon acquire a ferocious disposition and the means 
for defence. On the other hand, where they have a liberal 
and constant supply of food, where they are provided 
with warm and comfortable quarters, and are never harshly 
treated, they become gentle in disposition, are indisposed 
to roam about, have finer hair and skin, shorter and finer 
legs, smaller head, ears and snout. They grow rapidly 
and mature early. 

Such a change does not take place at once ; and the 
same may be said of the conditions. A rude system of 
agriculture is never immekliately followed by high farm- 
ing. There must be intermediate changes. And so it is 
with our domestic animals. We have almost as many 
kinds of hogs as we have different kinds or systems of 
farming. We do not call them breeds, because there is 



BREEDS OF PIGS. 15 

little permanency of character about them. They are 
constantly changing, just as the management of their own- 
ers varies. 

A breed possesses fixed characteristics. If fully estab- 
lished, and the conditions of feeding and management are 
not changed, these characteristics are transmitted from 
generation to generation. In pigs, owing to their fecund- 
ity, it is a comparatively easy matter to establish a breed. 

Man does not create a breed. God alone creates. All 
that we can do is to avail ourselves of that inherent dis- 
position which animals have of adapting themselves to 
the conditions in which they are placed. The conditions, 
are under our control. Let the breeder first make up his 
mind what system of feeding and management he will 
adopt. Then let him steadily and perseveringly adhere 
to it. An unstable man can never be a successful breeder. 
If he wishes a breed that will grow moderately on a mod- 
erate allowance of food, and arrive at maturity in two or 
three years, he can attain his object by feeding moderately 
and selecting such pigs to breed from, as come nearest his 
wishes. If any pigs in the litter manifest a disposition to 
grow rapidly, they must be rejected. Such pigs are not 
suited to a moderate allowance of food. Their offspring 
will certainly degenerate. Better select those whicli 
make the slowest growth, and which are consequently 
least likely to experience the injurious effects of starva- 
tion. By steadily pursuing this method, a breed can be 
obtained which will eat little and grow slowly, and yet 
remain healthy. If it is desired to have them attain a 
greater weight without increasing the daily allowance of 
food, attention must be directed to this object. Do not 
let either the sow or the boar breed until they have at- 
tained their fullest growth, say at three, four, or five years 
of age. 

The advantage of such a breed lies in the fact that it 
would suffer less from occasional starvation, than breeds 



16 



HARRIS OX THE PIG. 



which are adapted to grow rapidly, and mature early, on 
liberal feeding. But of course such a breed can only be 
profitable where the food costs little or nothing — and 
even in this case it may well be questioned whether a 
breed tliat eats more and gains faster would not be more 
profitable. All, that we wish to show is, that no matter 
what the object of the breeder is, he can attain it. He 
can raise a breed adapted to any system of feeding and 
management he desires to adopt. In point of fact, the 
pigs will adapt themselves, sooner or later, to the supply 
of food and the means necessary for them to use, in order 
to obtain it. The breeder can, by selection,* greatly acceler- 
ate the change, but the main cause is the food and treat- 
ment. In this sense the "breed goes in at the mouth." 

If a farmer wishes a breed of pigs that will grow with 
great rapidity and fatten early, he cannot attain his object 
witliout liberal feeding. If he will furnish this for sev- 
eral generations and at the same time provide warm and 
comf)rtable quarters, and never suffer the pigs to be 
harshly treated or neglected, he will do much to secure 
his object. Selection will do the rest. It is generally 
supposed that the success of the breeder depends mainly 
on his ability to select a boar— having those points fully 
developed in which his sows are most deficient; and 
doubtless this requires much skill and nice discrimi- 
nation. But we are satisfied that the cause of failure 
is generally owing to inconstant or illiberal feeding. 
The breeder must love his animals, and must give them 
his constant personal attention. A few weeks' neglect, 
starving at one season and surfeiting at another, harsh 
treatment, and damp, dirty pens, will counteract all the 
advantage derived from months of oood manao-ement 

Nature protects herself The offspring of animals lia- 
ble to such occasional neglect will, so to speak, expect such 
treatment, and even if they themselves have liberal and 



THE FORM OF A GOOD PIG. IT 

constant feeding, they will not possess the qualities of 
rapid growth and early maturity, in the highest degree. 

It is the weakest link that determines the strength of a 
chain. And so far as inherited qualities are concerned, 
the rapidity of growth will be influenced more by the pe- 
riods of neglect and starvation, than by the occasional 
periods of high feeding. Starving a young, well-bred 
sow may not show any great and injurious effect on the 
sow herself, but the ofispring of such a sow, if she breed 
at all, will be seriously injured. A few months starvation 
and neglect may counteract nearly all the advantages 
which the breed has acquired by generations of careful 
breedins; and feeding. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE FORM OF A GOOD PIG. 

The aim of all breeders of animals designed solely for 
meat, is to have the body approximate as closely as possi- 
ble to the form of a parallelepiped. In proportion to the 
size, an animal of this form contains the greatest weight. 
Hence it is, that farmers who have kept nothing but 
common pigs, and who look upon a well-formed, grade 
Essex or Suffolk as " small," are surprised to find, when 
brought to the scales, that it weighs more than an old- 
fashioned, ill-formed pig of much greater apparent size. 

Another advantage of this form is, that it gives a greater 
proportion of the most desirable parts of the pig. 

In a pio- of this form the ribs are well-arched. We can- 
not have'a flat, broad, "table-back" without this. And 
consequently the muscle which runs along each side of the 
v^rtebr^, is well developed, and we have a large quantity 
of meat of the best quality. 



18 



HARRIS ON THE PIG. 




Fig. 1. — TESTING THE FORM OF A PIG. 



This form also affords abundant room for the lungs, 
stomach, and intestines ; and it is on the capacity of 
these organs to convert a large amount of comparatively 
cheap food into a large quantity of flesh and fat that de- 
termines the value of the animal. 

We annex a portrait of a tolerably well-formed pig, 
with lines showing how to apply the test above alluded 

to. The nearer he 
will fill the rectangu- 
lar frame, the nearer 
he approaches to 
perfection of form. 
It would be well, for 
r farmers to place a 
straight cane along 
the back, also along 
the sides, shoulders 
and hams of their pigs, and see how near they come up to 
the desired standard. 

The length of a pig should bear a certain proportion to 
liis breadth. Many farmers object to the improved breeds, 
because they are too short. In point of fact, however, 
they are often longer than their ill-bred favorites. They 
aj^pear short, because they are so broad. A large-boned 
hog is longer than one liaving small bones. There are as 
many vertebrae in the shortest Suffolk as in the longest 
Yorkshire. 

A fine-boned pig cannot be long-bodied. It may ap- 
pear long, but this will usually be because it is narrow. 
Breadth and depth are of far greater importance than 
length. Robert Bakewell, the originator of the improved 
Leicester sheep, and one of the most skillful and expe- 
rienced breeders in the world, is said to have formed a 
breed of pigs that, when fat, were "nearly equal in 
height, length, and thickness, their bellies almost touching 
the ground, the eyes being deep set and sunk from fat. 



THE FORM OF A GOOD PIG. 1" 

and the whole carcass appearing to be a solid mass of 
flesh " Bakewell left no record of his mode or prmciples 
of breeding, but the following sentence from the descrip- 
tion of his pigs above quoted, throws light on the pomt 
we are now considering : " These pigs are remarkably fine- ^ 
boned and delicate, and are said to lay on a larger quan- 
tity of meat, in proportion to bone and offal than any oh- 
er kind known." In other words, Bakewell with all his 
skill, could not obtain fineness of bone, and length too, 
any more than a builder could reduce the size of his 
bricks, and then make the same number form as long a 
wall What he probably did, was, to take a arge pig and 
reduce the size of the bones, and consequently the length 
of body, without reducing the breadth and depth of the 

""int common sow, to be crossed with a thorough-bred 
boar, length of body is often very desirable; but in a 
thorough-bred pig it is a doubtful quality, as mdicatmg a 
want of breadth and fineness of bone. 

The head of a pig sl,ould be set close to the shoulders. 
The broader and deeper the cheeks, the better, as next to 
the ham and shoulder there is no choicer meat on the pig. 
A well-cooked cheek of bacon, with roast chicken, is a 

dish for an epicure. 

The snout should be short and delicate, and the ears 
small and fine. A thick, heavy, pendant ear is an indica- 
tion of coarseness and is never desirable m a thorough-bred 
pi.. It should be small, fine, soft, and silky. It should be 
well set on the head and lean a little forward, but not fall 
over. An ear that is upright indicates an unqmet disposi- 
tion. 



20 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

CHAPTER ly. 

DESIRABLE QUx\LITIES IN A PIG. 

As the domestic hog is kept solely for its flesh and fat, 
the pig that will afford the greatest amount of meat and 
lard of the best quality at the least cost, other thiugs be- 
ing equal, is the most profitable breed. 

It has been well said that Cincinnati owes its wealth to 
the discovery of a method of putting 15 bushels of corn 
into a three-bushel barrel, and transporting it to distant 
markets. This has been accomplished by means of the 
pig. He converts 7 bushels of corn into 100 lbs. of pork. 

In accomplishing this result, the organ of first import- 
ance is the stomach. It is here that the first change in 
this wonderful process commences. In a flouring mill we 
have a water-wheel or steam-engine which drives the 
stones, and the machinery for removing the bran and oth- 
er inferior products of the grain from the fine flour. The 
capacity of the establishment is determined by the motive 
power and the " run of stones." A pig is a mill for con- 
verting corn into pork. The stomach is at once the 
w:iter-\vheel or steam-engine, and the stones for grinding 
the grain, — and the motive power, which runs the mill 
and the machinery, is derived from the consumption of corn. 

Now, if we furnish merely corn enough to run the ma- 
chinery, and put no grain in the liop})er, we lose not only 
the use of the mill, but of all the grain used for fuel. 

If we should keep the mill supplied only half the time, 
and yet keep the machinery running at full speed night 
and day, (as we must needs do in the case of an animal) 
would it be considered good management ? 

Let us see. Suppose it takes 75 lbs. of corn to run the 
machinery. If we furnish no more than this, we get noth- 
ing in return. If we furnish 100 lbs., (say 75 lbs. for 
fuel and 25 lbs. for the hopper,) we may obtain, say 20 



DESIRABLE QUALITIES IN A PIG. SI 

lbs. of flonr. If we furnish another extra 25 lbs. to the 
hopper, or 125 lbs. in all, we get 40 lbs. of flour ; if we 
furnish 150 lbs., we get 60 lbs. of flour. In other words, 
150 lbs. of corn will furnish three times as much flour as 
100 lbs. 

It may be said that more power would be required to 
run the mill when it is grinding than when it is running 
empty. But in the case of an animal it is doubtful how 
far this objection holds. It is not improbable that the 
conversion of each additional pound of corn into pork 
generates the amount of power necessary for the change. 
But whether this be so or not, no one can question the 
advantage to be derived from furnishing all the grain that 
the mill will grind and manufacture. 

Of the desirable qualities in a pig, therefore, a vigorous 
appetite is of the first importance. A hog that will not 
eat, is of no more use than a mill that will not grind. And 
it is undoubtedly true that the more a pig will eat in pro- 
portion to its size, provided he can digest and assimilate 
it, the more profitable he will prove. 

The next desirable quality is, perhaps, quietness of dis- 
position. The blood is derived from the food, and flesh is 
derived from the blood. Animal force is derived from the 
transformation of flesh. The more of this is used in un- 
necessary motions, the greater the demand on the stomach, 
and the more food will there be required merely to sustain 
the vital functions — and the more frequently flesh is 
transformed and formed again, the tougher ^nd less pala- 
table it becomes. 

This quality, or quietness of disposition, combined with 
a small amount of useless parts or ofial, has been the 
aim of all modern breeders. Its importance will readily 
be perceived if we assume that 75 per cent of the 
food is ordinarily consumed to support the vital func- 
tions, and that the slight additional demand of only 
one-sixth more food, is required for the extra ofial 



22 



HARRIS ON THE PIG. 



parts and unnecessary activity. Such a coarse, restless 
animal would gain, in flesh and fat, in proportion to the 
food consumed, only half as fast as the quiet, refined 
animal. 

A little calculation will show this to be true in theory, 
as it is undoubtedly true in practice. Thus take two pigs. 
'No. 1 eats 100 lbs. of corn, 75 lbs. of which are required 
to sustain the vital functions. He gains, say 20 lbs. 

No. 2, a coarse, restless pig, eats 100 lbs. of corn, 87^- 
lbs. of which are necessary to support the vital functions. 

No. 1 has 25 lbs. of food over and above the amount 
required to sustain the vital functions, and gains 20 lbs. of 
pork. No. 2 has only 12^ lbs., and consequently, cannot 
produce more than 10 lbs. 

To assume that a rough, coarse, savage, ill-bred, squeal- 
ing, mongrel hog will require only one-sixth more food to 
"run his machinery," than a quiet, refined, well-bred 
Berkshire, Essex or Suffolk pig w411 not be considered ex- 
travagant ; and yet it undoubtedly follows that, for the 
food consumed, the quiet pig will gain in flesh and fat 
twice as fast as the other. If in addition to this he will 
eat 25per cent more food, he will gain four thnes as fast. 

The two great aims of every pig breeder should be to 
lessen the demands on the stomach for offal or least valu- 
able parts, and for unnecessary activity on the one hand, 
and on the other to increase the power of the stomach, 
and digestive and assimilative organs as much as possible. 



^ CHAPTER V. 

LARGE vs. SMALL BREEDS AND CROSSES. 

Mr. Lawes' experiments on the different breeds of sheep, 
prove conclusively that well-bred mutton sheep of the same 
age, consume food in almost exact proportion to their size 



LARGE VS. SMALL BREEDS AND CROSSES. 23 

or live weight. Two Cotswold sheep, weighing 120 lbs. 
each, will eat as much food as three Southdown sheep, 
weighing 80 lbs. each. But the two Cotswold s will gain 
much more than the three Southdowns. The average in- 
crease for one hundred lbs. live weight was, with the Cots- 
wold, 2 lbs. 2 oz. per week ; and with the Southdowns, 
1 lb. lOf oz. per week — both breeds having precisely the 
same food. In other words, two Cotswold sheep, weigh- 
ing 120 lbs. each, would eat the same amount of food as 
three Southdowns weighing 80 lbs. each ; but the two 
Cotswolds would gain 17 lbs. each, while the three South- 
downs gained only 9 lbs. each. Where Cotswold mutton' 
brings as much per pound as the Southdown, it is evident 
that the Cotswolds are the more profitable breed for fat- 
tening. 

We know of no similar experiments on the different 
breeds of pigs. Reasoning from analogy, we might con- 
clude that, as the large Cotswold sheep gained much more, 
for the food consumed, than the small Southdowns, the 
large Yorkshire pigs would gain much more, for the food 
consumed, than the small Suffolks. 

This may or may not be true. If it should prove to be 
a fact, we should conclude that a pig of the large breed 
ate much more food over and above the amount required 
to keep up the animal heat and sustain the vital functions, 
than a pig of the small breed; and, as we have attempted 
to show in a previous chapter, the large pig would, in such 
a case, gain much more in proportion to the food consum- 
ed, than the small pig of the same age. 

There can be no doubt that a large pig, other things 
being equal, will eat more food than a small pig of the 
same age. 

It is equally true that a large pig, at ordinary temper- 
atures, will not require, in proportion to its weight, as 
much food to keep up the animal heat as a small pig. A 
pig weighing 100 lbs. will not radiate as much heat as two 



24 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

pigs weighing 50 lbs. each. The larger the pig, the less 
surface is there exposed to the atmosphere in proportion to 
weight. 

It follows, therefore, that a large pig, eating more food 
and losing less animal heat, would have a greater amount 
of food to be appropriated to the formation of fat and 
flesh, in proportion to live weight, than a smaller i^ig of 
the same age. 

So far as this kind of reasoning goes, therefore,' it would 
seem that the large breeds of pigs are preferable to the 
small breeds. 

This conclusion is opposed to the opinion of a large 
number of very intelligent and observing pig breeders 
and feeders. There can be no doubt that the weight 
of testimony, so far as the production of a given amount 
of pork from a given amount of food is concerned, is 
against the large breeds. 

The truth of the matter is probably this: The small 
breeds mature earlier than the large breeds. This in itself 
is a great advantage. The pigs are not only ready for the 
butcher at an earlier age, but as animal life is always at- 
tended by a constant transformation of tissue, every day 
we gain in time, saves the amount of food necessary to 
supply this waste and keep up the animal heat. 

Early maturity, therefore, is one of the principal aims 
of the breeder and feeder. But early maturity is always 
attended with a diminution of size ; and the small breeds 
owe their value, not to their small size, but to their early 
maturity and tendency to fatten while young. 

In point of fact, however, the term Small Breed or 
Large Breed, as used by our Agricultural Societies, has 
no very distinct meaning. The New York State Agricul- 
tural Society offers prizes for two classes of pigs — and 
only two. 

1st. " Large Breed ; which, when full grown and fatten- 
ed, will weigh over 450 lbs. dressed." 



LARGE VS. SMALL BREEDS AND CROSSES. 25 

2d. " Small Breed ; which, when full grown and fatten- 
ed, will not weigh over 450 lbs. dressed." 

Exhibitors seem to have entered their pigs in the class 
for small breeds one year, and in that for large the next. 
Berkshire, Essex, Suffolk and Yorkshire have all been ex- 
hibited, first in one class and then in another, and fre- 
quently the same breeder will exhibit Berkshire or Essex 
at the same fair in both classes. 

The same state of facts seems to exist in England. 
There are Large Yorkshires and Small Yorkshires, Large 
Berkshires and Small Berkshires. Of late years, a 
new class of " Medium " Breeds has been formed at the 
Agricultural Shows. There, as here, it is not always easy 
to determine the class to which a particular breed belongs. 
An English breeder of " Small Yorks," says he can " get 
them up profitably to 600 lbs. when thick bacon is required." 

On the other hand, the advocates of the Large York- 
shires claim that pigs of this breed " attain a good bacon 
size at a very early age, and when killed, they cut more 
lean meat in proportion to the fat than the smaller breeds." 

A sow of this breed, which took the Prize at Rother- 
ham, in 1856, age three years and two months, weighed 
1,315 lbs.* 

The author above quoted, says: "The large breed is 
equally valuable for making large or small bacon, that be- 
ing only a matter of age ; as porkers of a few weeks old, 
they are unequaled ; their flesh being very rich and well- 
flavored, and not so fat as the small breeds." 

On the other hand, Mr. George Mangles, of Givendale, 
Ripon, one of the largest and most successful breeders 
and feeders in Yorkshire, furnishes the London Farmers' 
Magazine, for June, 1861, the following interesting ac- 
count of his experience : 

" About ten years ago, I commenced pig-keeping on a 



* Youatt on the Pig. By S, Sidney. London : 1860. Page 14. 

2 



36 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

larger scale than the generality of farmers. What I 
wanted, and what my farm required, was a quantity of 
good manure. I first tried buying stores in the neighbor- 
hood, but soon gave that up, as they were chiefly of the 
large breed, and required too much food and liberty. I 
had no alternative but to breed my own stores. With a 
view to find a profitable sort, I purchased a few of the 
best from difterent breeders of note, and kept them sepa- 
rate, and also a few stores of each sort together, living on 
the same kind of food. I also tried the different crosses ; 
but, to get the cross, I must have pure stock at first ; so I 
considered it best to keej) to a pure breed. I tried the 
Essex, the black Leicester, the Berkshire, the large York- 
shire, the small Yorkshire, and lastly the Cumberland 
small bi'eed. I must confess that at the outset I had but 
little experience to guide me ; not understanding the prin- 
ciples of breeding, I committed many foolish mistakes, 
which I paid dearly enough for; and if these few lines 
should meet the eye of any one wishful to form and keep 
a breed of pigs, I shall be glad for such a man to profit 
by the experience of another, I never expected pigs to 
live on nothing : because the manure made from pigs liv- 
ing on nothing would be worth nothing, and it was good 
manure I Avas aiming at. I found any breed pay, except 
the large breeds. All the crosses having the small breed 
for the sire always paid : whichever breed is intended to 
be ke[)t, the best bred ones should be obtained. I do not 
advocate breeding in-and-in ; but I do advocate, if you 
want to maintain the same style of animal, generation after 
generation, to cross with the same blood, but as far dis- 
tant as you can get it. I do not know a better sign of 
pure breeding than a litter of pigs all alike, or three or 
four sisters breeding alike to the snme boar. When the 
breed is obtained, one thing must always be kept in mind, 
the first boar a sow is put to, influences the succeeding lit- 
ters for three or four times. 



LARGE VS. SMALL BREEDS AND CROSSES. 27 

*' After the breeding, come the feeding and attention. 
Milk and fat must go in at the mouth before it makes its 
appearance in the animal. I do not believe those, who say 
their pigs get fat on nothing. I know from experience 
that one pig would live where another would starve, and 
what it would take to make one large-bred j)ig fat, would 
make several smaller-bred ones 'up.' A great hplp to 
profitable pig-keeping is warmth, and confinement, and 
regularity in feeding ; as by also keeping the skin of the 
animal clean by washing and brushing occasionally. If 
two animals of the same litter be put into two different 
sties, and have the same quantity of food each, the one 
that is kept warm and with the skin clean will gain more 
weight tlian tlie other. I found that out one winter, when 
Jack Frost was astir, before I put up a new pig-shed. My 
man was feeding a lot of pigs alike, only some were in 
common sties and others in a warm shed. The difference 
was very striking : those kept warm fed nearly lialf as fast 
ngain as the others. This induced me to build a long 
covered shed sixty feet long and eighteen feet wide, that 
would hold seventy j^orkers or fifty bacon pigs, where, 
when the thermometer has been below freezing point out- 
side, it has inside been very warm and comfortable. The 
pigs have their food warm in winter, and are never starv- 
ed by tlie cold ; tliey are bedded with clean straw every 
other day, and the shed is kept rather dark. The manure 
made is of first quality and fit to use for turnips. 

"Perliaps some of the readers of this paper would like 
to know something about the dietary of my pigs. I have 
not included sugar in my list of feeding ingredients. I 
have never gone higher than new milk, which they always 
take without sweetening. In the first place, I must say 
that I exhibit at a few of the leading agricultural meet- 
ings, and am generally, if not at the top of the ladder, 
not many spokes off. I keep my breeding stock different 
to my show stock, as I do not like breeding animals to be 



28 HARRIS OX THE PIG. 

over-fat ; but show animals are obliged to be fat, or the 
judges will pass them over. The over-feeding of prize 
animals is a very great evil, but one that can not be very- 
well remedied. A show of lean breeding animals would 
be a A^ery lean show indeed in many respects : an exhib- 
itor must always sacrifice some of his best animals to 
please .the public fancy. I think there is less risk in fat 
breeding pigs than any other animal. I have had several 
very fat sows pig, and never lost any. I gave them noth- 
ing but a very little bran and water a week before j^ig- 
ging, and but little after for a week, Avhile I put a little 
castor oil in their food directly after pigging. I have the 
greatest trouble in reducing the male animals, as they will 
nearly hunger to death before they will part with their 
fat. I generally turn them into a large yard, and give 
them plenty of w^ater, and a wurzel or two every day, or 
turn them out to grass in summer. 

" To my regular breeding pigs and stores, I am giving 
boiled rape-cake and barley-meal, one feed a day, and one 
feed of raw potatoes or vrurzel ; and if in summer, I turn 
them to grass, or soil them with clover in the yards. 

"I soil a good many every year. A week or two be- 
fore the sow pigs, I contrive to put her into a loose box, 
with a railing around to keep her from crushing the. pigs. 
I can always tell when she is going to pig by trying if she 
has milk in the paps : if a sow gives milk freely, she will 
pig any time. I then contrive to be, or have some one, 
near at liand, to take the pigs aw^ay as she pigs them, as 
the sows nre sometimes uneasy and will crush them. Af- 
ter she has pigged, I feed her with warm water and bran, 
and then give her the • pigs and leave them, because the 
less they are disturbed the better. I always feed the sow 
sparingly at first, as I have sometimes found, when a sow 
lias been fed too liberally at first, the flow of milk is 
greater than the pigs can take; consequeiitly the udder bc- 
cojnes hardy and the sow is ver^ uneasy, and will scarcely 



LARGE YS. SMALL BREEDS AND CROSSES. 29 

let the pigs suck her. If such is the case, the best way is 
to rub the udder well with the hand three or four times a 
day. Small-bred sows are commonly very quiet and 
tractable. 

" Generally when the pigs are three weeks or a month 
old, they will scour, if proper care has not been paid to 
the sow's feeding. I never could get a man that could 
get me a litter through without scouring. I have tried 
different plans, but the one I have found most successful 
is, to always give the sow a tablespoonful of the following 
mixture in her food : Mix together 2 lbs. of fenugreek, 2 
lbs. of anise-seed, ^ lb. of gentain, 2 oz. carbonate of soda, 
and 2 lbs. of powdered chalk. The sow gets very fond 
of this, and the little pigs, too, like it. Give the pigs also 
plenty of coal ashes to root amongst. I prefer oats, 
Avheat, and a little barley ground together, for sows giving 
milk. I have never tried the sugar diet, but I have found 
new milk fresh from the cow to work wonders in a short 
time. 

" Warmth, cleanliness, and regularity in feeding, a lit- 
tle good food and often, are the main secrets in rearing 
young pigs. I never like to see food left in a pig's trough : 
just give what they can eat up and no more. When pigs 
are put up to feed they should be kept warm and quiet. 
Five porkers or three bacon pigs are plenty together. The 
pen they are kept in need not be very large, but the pigs 
should be rung, and a little fresh bedding spread about 
them every second day. Pigs like to be kept warm, but 
plenty of fresh air must be allowed to circulate through 
the pens, or else disease will soon show itself" 

According to the editor of Youatt on the Pig, Mr. 
Mangles " is a plain farmer, feeding pigs for profit," and 
his statements will be received with all the more confi- 
dence on this account. We give the details of his manage- 
ment, not only because they are interesting and instructive 
in themselves, but because the system, of management and 



30 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

feeding have often more to do with the profits of pig 
breeding and feeding than the mere question of large or 
small breeds. 

On page 66 we give a portrait of one of his Prize pigs 
of the Small Breed, from a steel engraving in the London 
Farmers' Magazine for June, 1861. 

It will be observed that Mr. Mangles says he " found 
any breed pay except the large breed." " All the crosses 
having the small breed for the sire always paid." 

To the same effect is the testimony of Mr. Hewitt Davis, 
a name familiar to all readers of English agricultural liter- 
ature. He says : 

" My experience in stock keeping has been so decidedly 
in favor of breeding and fatting of pigs, that I may, with 
advantage to many \\ho think differently, give some ac- 
count of my management. That I should do so is the 
more necessary from farmers having generally a very low 
opinion of the profit to be gained from the breeding of 
pigs, and I cannot but ascribe their failures too often to 
the negligence with Avhich this stock is looked after. On 
an arable farm of 200 acres my stock has been 12 sows 
and two boars ; and their produce, according to the season, 
consisted either of rising stores running in the yards, or 
on the leas or stubbles ; or of porkers in the sties fatting 
for the market. From March to October my stock may 
be said to have lived loose on store keep, principally green 
food ; and from October to March (the jiarent stock ex- 
cepted) in sties, fatting on roots and boiled corn. The 
sows on an average gave me, one with another, 14 pigs a 
year each, so that in summer my stock was about 100 up- 
on store keep, and in winter about 200, of which 180 were 
in sties finishing for market. The spring litters went off 
in January and February as large j^orkers of 30 stones 
(240 lbs.) each, and the autumn-born as small porkers of 
about 7 stones (56 lbs.) each ; the first realizing about £5 
each, and the last about 30s. each, so that each sow re- 



LARGE VS. SMALL BREEDS AND CROSSES. 31 

turned about £45 a year ; and this amount there is no dif- 
ficulty in obtaining, large pork selling at 3s. 4d. per stone 
of 8 lbs. (11 cts. per lb.), and small pork at 4s. 4d. (14 cts. 
per lb.). Success, in the raising of pig stock, I found, was to 
be attained only by attention to fully carrying out the fol- 
lowing principles — viz., the accommodation for pigs must 
be sunny, dry, sheltered from cold wind, and yet well ven- 
tilated. Their sties being carefully protected on the north, 
east, and west sides, and open only on the south ; so that 
w^iilst no cold winds can have access, there should be no 
obstruction to the sun shining in and on to their beds. 
The pigs must be regularly and carefully attended ; suf- 
ficient should be kept to wholly occupy their attendant's 
time, and to them should that attendant's time and atten- 
tion be wholly given. An old man is better than a young 
one ; and this is an ofiice suited to one infirm or past gen- 
eral labor. The sows must never be permitted to farrow 
earlier than the end of March, nor later than October. The 
cold of winter is fatal to many fiirrows, and young pigs 
are ill able to bear up against it. Provide roots (potatoes, 
kohlrabi, swedes, carrots, and mangel wurzel) for their 
keep, aided with boiled corn, from September to June ; 
and tares, clover, beans, and maize, green, from May to 
September. Breed from large, strong sows, with boars 
of the finer breed, having in view the gaining of large far- 
rows, good nursing, and a rapid attainment of weight ; 
look to the mother for nursing, and the father to correct 
coarseness of form in the mother. Attached to the sties 
have a boiling-house with copper and food cisterns ; and 
in front of the sties a yard for the pigs to be turned into. 
Attention to these points makes all the difierence between 
profit and loss." 

The point in Mr. Davis' statement to which we wish to 
call particular attention is this : " Breed from large, 
strong sows, with boars of the finer breed, having in view 
the gaining of large farrows, good nursing, and a rapid 



33 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

attainment of weight ; look to the mother for nursing, 
and the father to correct coarseness of form in the mother." 

In other words, aim to get the digestive powers of the 
large breed in the body of a small, highly refined jDig. 
Increase the supply of food and lessen the demand upon 
it for everything except the formation of flesh and fat. 

It will be found that, consciously or unconsciously, all 
the eminently successful pig feeders have aimed to attain 
this result. 

The question of Large vs. Small Breeds, therefore, can 
only be answered by taking these objects into considera- 
tion. We need both breeds. The large breed to give us 
sows, and the small breed to give us boars. It is a mis- 
take to refine and reduce the size of the large breed, and 
then to breed from these " improved " pigs of the large 
breed. To produce pigs merely for the butcher, we should 
resort to crosses with a large, vigorous, unpampered sow 
put to the finest, thorough-bred boar of the small breeds 
that can be obtained. The larger the sow and the smaller 
the boar, the more will the little pigs be able to eat in pro- 
portion to their size, and the greater will be their growth 
in 2:)roportion to the food consumed. 

Mr. Jolm Coate, a breeder of " Improved Dorsets," who 
took the Gold Medal, five years in succession, at the Smith- 
field Club Show, for the best pair of pigs, says : 

" Crosses answer well for profit to the dairyman, as you 
get more constitution and quicker growth^ 

One of the most extensive farmers in West Norfolk 
writes to Mr. Sidnev: " The cross between the Berks boar 
and Norfolk sow (wliite), like all cross breeds^ is most 
profitable to the feeder, but we must have pure breeds 
first." And Mr. S. adds : " This Norfolk opinion is con- 
firmed by all my correspondents. The Berkshire pig is 
in favor in every dairy district, either pure or as a cross, 
hut chiefly as a cross. ^^ 

Again, the same author says: "The Improved Essex is 



LAEGE VS. SMALL BREEDS AND CROSSES. 33 

one of the best pigs of the small black breeds, well calcu- 
lated for producing pork and liams of the finest quality 
for fashionable markets ; but its greatest value is as a cross 
for giving quality and maturity to black pigs of a coarser, 
hardier kind. It occupies, with respect to the black 
breeds, the same position that the small Cumberland-Yorks 
do as to the white breeds — that is to say, an improved 
Essex boar is sure to improve the produce of any large 
dark sow." 

Again: "The Berkshire breed have benefited much 
from the improved Essex cross. The best Devonshire 
pigs have a large infusion of this strain. The improved 
Dorsets, the most successful black pigs ever shown at the 
Smithfield Club Shows, have borrowed their heads, at 
least from the Boxted [Essex] breed." 

A Bedfordshire farmer writes: "The Woburn breed 
described by Youatt was a good sort of pig, of no partic- 
ular character, except great aptitude to fatten. They 
were discontinued in consequence of the sows being very 
bad sucklers, in favor of a cross-bred animal, the produce 
of Berkshire sows and white Suffolk boars, the best that 
could be got. These are prolific, of good quality, can be 
fed at any age and to a fair medium weight. A cross 
like this pays the farmer best." 

Mr. Thomas Wright says, the cross of the Berkshire 
with the Tamworth " produces the most profitable bacon 
pigs in the kingdom, the Berkshire blood giving an extra- 
ordinary tendency to feed, and securing the early maturity 
in which alone the Tamworth breed is deficient. The 
cross of the Berkshire boar with large white sows has been 
found to produce most satisfactory results to plain farm- 
ers." 

The editor of the work from which these extracts are 
made says, that the current of opinion among English 
farmers, both as regards sheep and pigs, is towards crosses. 
"Breeding pure-bred stock pays well as a separate busi-- 
2* 




34 HAEEIS ON THE PIG. 

ness, if judiciously conducted; but the ordinary tenant 
farmer will generally find that a cross-bred sheep, a cross- 
bred pig, and even a cross-bred ox, in the first cross, fat- 
tens more profitably than a pure-bred animal." 

That this is the general opinion among practical farmers 
there can be no doubt. But there is no advantage in 
crossing merely for the sake of crossing. There should 
be an object in view. "We should aim to improve the 
form, early maturity and fattening qualities of the off- 
spring. In doing this, the tendency always is towards 
reducing the size. Bakewell reduced the size of the Lei- 
cester sheep, and Ellman of the Southdowns. Fisher 
Hobbs reduced the size of the original Essex pigs by using 
Lord Western's N'eapolitan-Essex boars on selected Essex 
sows of large size, with good constitutions, and enormous 
eaters. The Berkshire pig was originally " a much larger 
and coarser animal than now." The small Leicesters were 
" the great im23rovers of the gigantic Yorks." 

" What, then," it may be asked, " have we gained by the 
improvement ?" — We have gained this : While the size to 
which the animal would attain atmaturity hasbeenreduced, 
yet we can get a much greater Aveight, with less o5al, iu 
a given time, and with a far less consumption of food. 
An improved Essex pig at three years old will not weigh, 
as mucli as the original unimproved pig at the same age, 
and with the same food. But at one year old the improv- 
ed Essex can be made to weigh as much as the other would 
at eigliteen months or two years. They have, or ought 
to have, the digestive powers of the large, old breed, com- 
bined with the small bones, little offal, early maturity, 
and fattening qualities of the jSTeapolitan Essex. They 
can eat a large quantity of food, and convert it rapidly 
into pork of the highest quality. 

We say they ought to be great eaters, and have power- 
ful digestive organs. But the high feeding necessary to 
develop the fattening qualities in a breed, is apt to weaken 



THE VALUE OF A THOROUGH-BRED PIG. 35 

the digestive organs ; and it is best, in raising pigs for the 
butchers, to breed from large, liealthy, vigorous sows, and 
a thorougli-bred highly refined boar of a small breed. 
Such a cross will furnish grades that will eat more and 
fatten more rapidly than the thorough-breds. 

To cross thorou<]^h-breds is absurd. There is nothino: to 
be gained by it that cannot be obtained by breeding from 
common or grade sows with a thorough-bred boar ; be- 
sides thorough-breds are always more costly than common 
stock or grades. That a cross, for instance, between a 
thorough-bred, higlily refined Essex boar and a thorough- 
bred Berkshire sow would afford healthier, hardier, and 
more profitable pigs for the butcher than either thorough- 
bred Essex or thorough-bred Berkshires, may be true. 
It is not an easy matter to maintain the health and high 
character of any of our improved breeds. In-and-in- 
breeding, especially with pigs, leads to degeneracy ; and 
all pig breeders find it necessary to introduce a new strain 
of blood, either from animals bred distinct on their own 
farm, or, what is considered better, from the same breed 
kept in another section of country. By judicious selection, 
in this way, the breed can be maintained or improved. 
For the same reason, a cross between two distinct breeds, 
may give a litter of pigs better than either of the parents. 
But this is not only an expensive way of raising pigs for 
the butcher, but equally good, if not better pigs can be ob- 
tained by using a thorough-bred boar on grade, or common 
sows, selected with judgment. 



CHAPTER YI. 

THE VALUE OF A THOROUGH-BRED PIG. 

It cannot be denied that many farmers in the United 
States have purchased thorough-bred pigs, and after keep- 
ing them a few years, have given them up in disgust. One 



36 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

cause of this result may be found in the erroneous ideas I 
prevalent in regard to the object of keeping improved 
thorough-bred animals. No farmer could afford to keep a 
herd of high-bred Duchess Shorthorns simply for the pur- 
pose of raising beef for the butcher. Their value consists 
in their capacity to convert a large amount of highly 
nutritious food into a large amount of valuable beef, and 
in the power they have of transmitting this quality to their 
offspring when crossed with ordinary cows. It is in this 
last respect that pedigree is so important. But the former 
quality is due in a great degree to persistent high feeding 
for several generations. Were they submitted to ordinary 
food and treatment, especially when young, they would 
rapidly deteriorate. But put one of these splendid Short- 
horn bulls to a carefully selected ordinary cow, and we 
get a grade Shorthorn that, with ordinary good feed and 
treatment, will prove highly profitable for the butcher. 

The same is true of improved thorough-bred pigs. 
Their valuable qualities have been produced by persistent 
high feeding, and by selecting from their offspring those 
best adapted to high feeding. Pigs that grew slowly were 
rejected, while those which grew rapidly and matured 
early were reserved to breed from. In this way these quali- 
ties became established in the breed; and these qualities 
cannot be maintained Avithout good care and good feeding. 

In the case of pigs, we could well afford to give the 
necessary food to fatten thorough-bred pigs for the butch- 
er. But we cannot afford to raise the young thorough- 
breds for this purpose. This would be true, even if we could 
buy thorough-bred sows and boars to breed from, at the 
price of ordinary i^igs. The reason we cannot afford to 
raise highly refined, thorough-bred pigs for ordinary pur- 
poses, is, that if we feed them as they must be fed to 
maintain their qualities, they are apt to become too fat 
for breeding; and if we feed and treat them as ordinary 
slow-growing pigs are treated and fed, they lose the qual- 



GOOD PIGS NEED GOOD CARE. 37 

ities "wliich it is the object of the breeder to perpetuate. 
To raise highly improved, thorough-bred pigs, requires 
more care, skill, judgment, and experience than we can 
afford to bestow on animals designed to be sold in a few 
months to the butcher. 

The object of raising improved thorough-bred pigs is 
simply to improve our common stock. They should be 
raised for this purpose, and for this purpose only. The 
farmer should buy a thorough-bred boar from some relia- 
ble breeder, and select the largest and best sows he has to 
cross him with. A thorough-bred boar at six weeks or two 
months old can usually be bought for $20 or $25. Such a 
boar in a neighborhood is capable of adding a thousand 
dollars a year to the profits of the farmers who use him. 



CHAPTER YII. 

GOOD PIGS NEED GOOD CARE. 

We have said that an improved thorough-bred boar in 
a neighborhood is capable of greatly improving the qual- 
ities of the common stock, and adding largely to the prof- 
its of feeding pigs. But it is nevertheless a fact that such 
boars have been used by some farmers with little or no 
benefit. 

There are several reasons for this : There are farmers in 
every neighborhood who half starve their breeding sows. 
Some of them do this deliberately, from a conviction that 
it improves their breeding and suckling qualities, just as 
some dairymen think a cow must be kept poor if she is to 
be a good milker. They mistake the cause for the effect. 
The cow is thin because she is a good milker, and not a 
good milker because she is thin. So a good sow gets very 
thin in suckling her pigs, but it is a great mistake to keep 
her thin, in order to make her a good breeder and suckler. 



38 HARKIS OX THE PIG. 

We have kept thorough-bred boars for some years, and 
have observed that those farmers who are liberal feeders 
speak highly of the cross, but those who believe in starv- 
ing their sows, and letting the little pigs get their own liv- 
ing, assert that their pigs from a thorough-bred boar are 
no better than those from common boars. 

The trouble is not in the thorough-bred boar, but in the 
sows. We use the improved thorough-bred boar in order 
to obtain pigs that will grow rapidly. But a pig cannot 
grow rajDidly unless it has a liberal supply of food. 
It would be absurd to buy a superior mill, and then 
condemn it because it would not make choice family 
flour out of bran ; and it is equally absurd to expect a pig, 
however perfect in form and fattening qualities, to make 
flesh and fat out of air and water. 

A sow that has been starved all her life cannot produce 
vigorous, healthy pigs of good size, and with a tendency 
to grow rapidly and mature early. To init such a sow to 
an improved, thorough-bred boar, in hopes of getting good 
pigs, is as foolish as it is to hope to raise a large crop of 
choice wheat on wet, poor, neglected land, simply by pur- 
chasing choice seed. There is no such easy method of 
improving our stock. We must commence by adopting a 
more humane system of feeding, especially while the pigs 
are young. Then select the largest, thriftiest, and best- 
formed sows and put them to a good thorough-bred boar. 
Let the sow be regularly and liberally fed, without mak- 
ing her too fat. When with young she has a natural ten- 
dency to lay up fat, and it sometimes haj^pens that a sow 
gets so fat that her pigs are small, and there is considera- 
ble danger of her lying on them. But there is far less 
danger from having a sow fat than is generally thought. 

After she has pigged, feed the sow on warm slops, and 
other food fiivorable for the production of milk. Let the 
little ones be fed liberally, as soon as they commence to 



GOOD PIGS NEED GOOD CARE. 39 

eat, and then the beneficial effect of using a good thor- 
ough-bred boar will be seen. 

" But," it may be asked, " will not such Uberal feeding 
produce good pigs without using a thorough-bred boar ?" 
It will certainly produce better pigs than the starving 
system. But the effect of an improved thorough-bred 
boar in such a case is wonderful. We would rather pay 
$5 apiece for such pigs at two months old, than to accept 
as a gift, pigs from the same sow got by a common boar. 
At a year old we should expect the grades, in proportion 
to the food consumed, to bring at present prices, at least 
$10 a head more than the common stock. 

We have a neighbor who is a good farmer, and who 
takes delight in feeding a good pen of pigs every fall and 
early winter. He " did not believe " in thorough-breds, 
and always spoke of my Essex, Berkshires, and Suffolks, 
as ''nice little j^igs." After watching the effect of a cross 
with good-sized common sows, he finally concluded to 
bring a young sow to one of our Essex boars. She was 
16 months old, and certainly would not weigh over 120 
lbs. It was then our turn to s^^eak of little pigs. It so 
happened that we had a grade Essex sow the same age 
that accidentally took the boar at nine months old, and 
had a litter of nine pigs. She was very fat, and lay upon 
three of them. The remaining six were as handsome pigs 
as could be desired. These six pigs we sold at two 
months old, for feeding, for $35, and the sow, in a month 
after they were weaned, was killed, and dressed over 300 
lbs., worth at the time 14 cts. per lb. or $42. Here then 
were two sows of the same age, one of which brought in 
$77, and the other at a liberal estimate was not worth 
$20. The difference was due simply to the use of a thor- 
ough-bred boar, and to liberal feeding. The one was half 
starved, under the mistaken impression that such treatment 
was best for breeding sows. The mother of the other 
was liberally fed, and her little ones were never starved. 



40 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

During the summer, however, they had nothing but the 
wash and milk from the house, and the run of a good 
clover pasture. On this, the whole litter kept quite fat, 
and with the exception of this one sow, that proved to be 
with pig, were sold the first of October to the butcher, 
without having had any corn or grain of any kind for sev- 
eral months. The sow alluded to above, out of this litter, 
received the same treatment ; but in a week or ten days 
after she pigged, we commenced to fatten her, and never did 
sucking pigs thrive better ; and when they were weaned, 
the sow was actually fat, and in a month afterwards was 
very fat. 

Now there is nothing remarkable in all this. We have 
had pigs do very much better, because better fed. But 
it certainly enabled us to silence the sneers of a prejudiced 
farmer against liberal feeding and thorough-bred pigs. 

Another case deserves to be mentioned, showing the 
importance of liberal feeding in the case of well-bred pigs. 
One of our neighbors, a city man, who believed in good 
breeds and good feeding, had a common sow of good size 
and pretty fair form. He put her to a thorough-bred 
Prince Albert Suffolk boar, and had a litter of capital pigs. 
He afterwards jDut her to a thorough-bred Essex boar. But 
by this time, he got tired of farming, and at the sale, this 
sow was purchased by another neighbor who half starved 
her. She had a fair litter of pigs sometime in October. 
During the winter they had a little wash from the house 
and what they could pick up in a yard where cows receiv- 
ed little or nothing but straw. The next summer they 
had tlie run of the roadside, with yokes around their necks 
to keep them out of mischief A meaner and more ut- 
terly forlorn lot of pigs it has never been our lot to see. 
And this good man attributed his ill-luck to our thorough- 
bred boar ! 

In one sense he was rigrht. The sow had been accus- 
tomed to liberal feeding, and the boar was descended from 



ORIGIN AND IMPROVEMENT OF OTJR DOMESTIC PIGS. 41 

stock which, since the days of Lord Western and Fisher 
Hobbs, had been bred for the purpose of rapidly convert- 
ing all the food they could eat into choice pork. 'No won- 
der that such a litter of pigs would not stand starvation 
as well as those more accustomed to it. Had the sow and 
the litter of pigs been liberally fed, they would have 
brought more money, with pork at 14 cts. per lb., than 
he received that year from his whole farm of 100 acres ! 



CHAPTER YHL 

THE ORIGIN AND IMPROVEMENT OF OUR DOMESTIC PIGS. 

Nathusius has shown that all the known breeds of pigs 
may be divided in two great groups : one resembling, in 
all important respects and no doubt descended from, the 
common wild boar ; so that this may be called the jSus 
scrofa group. The other group differs in several import- 
ant and constant osteological characters ; its wild, parent- 
form is unknown ; the name given to it by N'athusius, ac- 
cording to the law of priority, is Sus Indica^ of Pallas. 
This name must now be followed, though an unfortunate 
one, as the wild aboriginal does not inhabit India, and 
the best known domesticated breeds have been imported 
from Siam and China.* 

Wild hogs still exist in various parts of Central and 
Northern Europe. The wild boar is described as having 
large tusks, a stronger snout, and a longer head than the 
domestic pig ; smaller ears, pointed and upright ; in color, 
when full grown, always black. He does not attain his 
full growth under four or five years, and will live for 



* Darwin Animals and Plants Under Domestication, Vol. 1, page 85 



42 



HARRIS OX THE PIG. 




ORIGIN AND IMPROVEMENT OF OUR DOMESTIC PIGS. 43 

twenty or thirty years. The sow breeds only once a year, 
and has seldom more than five or six at a litter ; suckles 




Fig. 3. — WILD BOAR. From Sidney'' s Yotiatt. 
them three or four months, and does not allow them to 
leave her until they are two or three years old, and able 




Fig. 4.— ORIGINAL OLD ENGLISH PIG. From Siclnei/s Yonatt. 
to defend themselves. Occasionally they grow to a great 
size, but usually they are not as large as the domestic pig. 



44 



Harris o^ the pig. 



The engravings in cliiferent parts of the book are, many 
of them, selected from different works, for the purpose of 
illustratinoj the chansres which have been wrouo^ht in the 
hog by domestication, breeding, etc. 

Great improvements have been effected by skillful 
breeders in the form of cattle and sheep, but we think 
these illustrations will show, that far greater improvement 
has been effected in the form of the pig than in any other 
animal. The picture of the " original old English pig " 
(fig. 4), shows a decided improvement in form over the 
Wild Boar (fig. 3). It has shorter legs, shorter head and 




Fig. 5. — OLD IRISH PIG. From RicJiardson. 

snout, heavier cheeks, a straighter and broader back, and 
larger hams. It Avill weigh more, in proportion to size, 
and afford more meat and less offal than the wild hog. 

The engraving of the old Irish " Greyhound Hog " (fig. 
5), shows an intermediate form between the wild and do- 
mestic animal. Richardson, from whose work the picture is 
taken, describes them as follows : " These are tall, long- 
legged, bony, heavy-eared, coarse haired animals ; their 
throats furnished with j^endulous wattles, and by no 
means possessing half so much the appearance of domes- 
tic swine as they do of the wild boar, the great original 



J 



IMPROVEMENT OF THE ENGLISH BREEDS OF PIGS. 45 

of the race. In Ireland, the old gaunt race of hogs has, 
for many years past, been gradually wearing away, and is 
now, perhaps, wholly confined to the western parts of the 
country, especially Galway. These swine are remarkably 
active, and will clear a five-barred gate as well as any 
hunter; on this account they should, if it is desirable to 
keep them, be kept in well-fenced inclosures." 

The picture of the " original old English pig " shows 
that great improvement can be made merely by regular 
feeding and judicious selection ; but it must be remem- 
bered that probably it took hundreds of generations to 
effect tlie change indicated in the engravings. That it 
could have been effected in a much shorter time, is undoubt- 
edly true. But the fiict remains that, centuries after the 
wild pigs had genei-ally disappeared from the Island, the 
domestic pig derived from them was still a very coarse, 
slow maturing, and unprofitable animal. 

The French and Germans, as compared with the Eng- 
lish, have made but little improvement in the breeds of 
pigs, and many of the animals to be found upon the Con- 
tinent are very much like the old English hog, bony, tall, 
gaunt, wiry-haired, and slow to fatten. On page 46 we 
give a portrait of a Craonnaire boar, which took a prize at 
a French agricultural show in 1856. 



46 



HAERIS ON THE PIG. 




IMPROVEMENT OF THE ENGLISH BREEDS OF PIGS. 47 

CHAPTER IX. 

IMPROVEMENT OF THE ENGLISH BREEDS OF PIGS. 

The improvement in the breeds of pigs has kept pace 
with the improvement in general agriculture. High 
breeding is profitable when accompanied with high feed- 
ing and high farming; but a highly rehned animal is not 
suited to a rude, primitive system of agriculture. The Eng- 
lish breeds of pigs to-day, as compared with those of half a 
century ago, do not show greater improvement than is 
found in the general system of farming. There are still 
poor farmers in England, and there are also j^oor breeds 
of pigs ; but it must be admitted that we can find in 
England the best specimens of Iiigh farming, and the best 
specimens of well-bred cattle, sheep, and pigs ; and as 
good culture is rapidly becoming more general, there is 
an increasing demand for improved breeds, at high prices. 
There can be no doubt that the general improvement in 
agriculture, and the more general demand for improved 
breeds has greatly stimulated the eiforts of the profes- 
sional pig breeders ; and it is doubtless true that several 
of the English breeds of pigs are to-day superior in form, 
early maturity, and fattening qualities, than any other 
breed in the world. 

The early English breeders made great improvements, 
but being ahead of their times, they met with compara- 
tively little demand for their improved pigs, and no ade- 
quate remuneration for their skill and labor. 

It is not necessary to review the means employed by 
the breeders of the last century to improve the English 
breeds of pigs. SufHce it to say that it is generally ad- 
mitted that much of this improvement is due to crossing 
the large English sows with the highly refined Chinese 
boars, and in selecting from the ofispring such animals as 



48 



HAERIS ON THE PIG. 



possessed, in the greatest degree, tlie form and qualities 
desired. By continued selection, and " weeding out," 
the breed at length became established. 

The Improved Berkshire is one of the earliest and best 
known of these Chinese-English breeds. 

The old Berkshire hog had maintained a high reputa- 
tion for centuries. It is described as " long and crooked 




Fig. 7. — IMPORTED CHINESE SOW. 

snouted, the muzzle turning upwards ; the ears large, 
heavy, and inclined to be pendulous ; the body long and 
thick, but not deep ; the legs short, the bone large, and 
the size very great." It was probably the best pig in 
England, and was wisely selected as the basis of those re- 
markable improvements which have rendered the modern 
Berkshire so justly celebrated. 

It would be interesting to trace the different steps in 
this astonishing improvement, but, unfortunately, the nee- 



IMPEOVEMENT OP THE ENGLISH BREEDS OF PIGS. 49 

essary information cannot be obtained. We give four en- 
gravings from Loudon's Encyclopedia of Agriculture, the 




Figr. 8. — BEKKSHIRE PIG. 



first edition of which appeared in 1825, which will give 
some idea of the change that has been effected. Figure 8 




Fiff. 9. — HAMPSHIRE PIG. 



is the Berkshire pig, as represented by Loudon, which is 
stated to represent " one of the best of its kind," and there 
can be little doubt that it was taken from what was coi;- 



50 



HARRIS ON THE PIG. 



sidered a good specimen of the breed at the time the work 
was written. As compared with the figure of the old origi- 
nal English pig, and also witli those of Hampshire, Here- 
fordshire, and Suifolk, given by Loudon (figs. 9, 10, and 
11), it is easy to trace the influence of the Chinese cross. 
Loudon speaks of the Berkshire, at that time, as a small 
breed, and it is undoubtedly true that the first effect of 
an improvement in the fattening qualities and early ma- 
turity of an animal is to reduce the size. On the whole, 
this picture of an improved Berkshire, forty-five or fifty 
years ago, does not give one a very favorable idea of the 




Fig. 10. — HEREFOUDSHIRE PIG. 

breed at that time ; yet it was then probably the best 
bred pig in England. Comparing this engraving with the 
one given by Youatt (fig. 12), in 1845, and with those given 
by Sydney in 18G0 (figs. 20 and 21), we can form some 
idea of the remarkable effects of judicious breeding and 
high feeding. The engraving, figure 12, indicates the 
effect of a cross with the Chinese; the others show 
what can be done by persistent efforts in improving 
a breed of a mixed origin. It is highly probable that 



IMPKOYEMENT OF THE ENGLISH BEEEDS OF PIGS. 51 



boars of the improved Chinese-Berkshires, after the breed 
had become established, were employed to cross with the 




Fig. 11. — SUFFOLK PIG. 

large, old Berkshire sows, and that the effect of this less 




rio;. 12.— BERKSHIRE SOW. 



violent cross was more beneficial than the direct use of 



HARRIS ON THE PIG. 



the pure Chinese. Certain it is, that the pure Chinese 
pigs are now seldom, if ever, resorted to by English 
breeders. They find it more advantageous to resort to 
pure-bred boars of some of their own established breeds, 
although there is probably none of these breeds that have 
not, at one time or other, been crossed with the Chinese. 
It is a mistake, however, to speak of them, on this ac- 
count, as "cross-bred " pigs, as is sometimes done. They 
have been bred pure long enough to become fully estab- 
lished. 

The history of the Improved Essex Pig is of great in- 
terest, because better authenticated than that of any other 
breed. 

The old Essex breed is described by Loudon as " up- 
eared, with long, sharj) heads, roach-backed, carcasses 
flat, long, and generally high upon the leg, bone not large, 
color, white, or black and white, bare of hair, quick feed- 
ers, but great consumers, and of an unquiet disposition." 

Lord Western, while traveling in Italy, saw some Nea- 
politan pigs, and came to the conclusion that they were 
just what he wanted to improve the breed of Essex pigs. 
He describes them, in a letter to Earl Spencer, as " a 
breed of very peculiar and valuable qualities, the flavor 
of the meat being excellent, and the disposition to fatten 
on the smallest quantity of food unrivaled." He pro- 
curred a pair of thorough-bred Keapolitans, and crossed 
them with Essex sows, and probably with black Sussex 
and Berkshires. He obliterated the white from the old 
Essex, and obtained a breed of these cross-bred pigs that 
could scarcely be distinguished from the pure-bred Nea- 
politans. 

These Neapolitan-Essex had great success at agricul- 
tural fairs, but as Lord Western continued to breed from 
his own stock, selecting the most highly refined males ' 
and females, they " gradually lost size, muscle, and con- 
stitution, and consequently fecuiidity ; and at the time 



IMPEOVEMENT OF THE EN^GLISH BREEDS OF PIGS. 53 

of his death, in 1844, while the whole district had bene- 
fited from the cross, the Western breed had become 
more ornamental than useful." 

In other words, while this highly refined breed was of 
great value to cross with the large, vigorous sows in the 
neighborhood, they were not profitable to raise pure. 
This is the case with all highly refined, thorough-bred 
pigs. They are not as profitable for the mere production 
of pork as the pigs from the common sow and a thorough- 
bred boar. It is as true to-day as it was then, that any 
highly refined throrough-bred pigs are " more ornamental 
than useful," unless farmers know how to use them ; 
then they are of great value. In the meantime, a tenant 
farmer of Lord Western,- the late Fisher Hobbs, of Box- 
ted Lodge, had availed himself of the opportunity to use 
the thorough-bred Neapolitan-Essex boars belonging to 
Lord Western, and crossed them with the large, strong, 
hardy, black, and rather rough and coarse Essex sows, 
and in process of time he established the breed, since be- 
come so famous — the Improved Essex. 

The difference between the two breeds is shown by the 
engraving of one of Lord Western's Neapolitan-Essex 
boars (fig. 23), drawn for the first edition of Youatt on the 
Pig, and that of "Emperor" (fig. 22), an eight-year-old 
Improved Essex working boar, taken in 1860 for Sidney's 
last edition of Youatt on the Pig. 

Sidney, in his last edition of Youatt, says : " The Im- 
proved Essex probably date their national reputation from 
the second show of the Royal Agricultural Society, held 
at Cambridge, in 1840, when a boar and sow, both bred 
by Mr. Hobbs, each obtained first prizes in their respec- 
tive classes. 

" Early maturity, and an excellent quality of flesh, are 
among the merits of the improved Essex. They produce 
the best 'jointers' for the London market. With age 
they attain considerable weight, and often make 500 lbs. 



Gi HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

at twenty-four months old. ' Emperor ' (fig. 22) is 2 ft. 
8^ in. high at the shoulder, and 6 ft. 1 in. long. Boars 
bred at Boxted have been known to reach 36 in. in height. 

"The defect of the improved Essex is a certain delicacy, 
probably arising from their southern descent, and an ex- 
cessive aptitude to fatten, which, imless carefully counter- 
acted by exercise and diet, often diminishes the fertility 
of the sows, and causes difficulty in rearing the young. 
As before observed, they are invaluable as a cross, being 
sure to give quality and early maturity to any breed, and 
especially valuable when applied to a black breed where 
porkeis are required. For this purpose they have been 
extensiveiy and successfully used in all the black pig dis- 
tricts of this country [Great Britain], where, as well as in 
France and Germany, and in the United States, they have 
superseded the use of the imported Neapolitan and Chinese. 
Many attempts, on a limited scale, to perpetuate the breed 
pure, have been unsatisfactory, because it is too pure to 
stand in-and-in breeding. They require much care when 
young. ' In the sows the paternal fattening properties 
are apt to overbalance the milking qualities, and make 
them bad nurses.' 

" The Berkshire breed have benefited much from the 
improved Essex cross. The best Devonshire pigs have a 
large infusion of the same strain. The improved Dorsets, 
the most successful black pigs ever shown at the Smith- 
field Club shows, have borrowed their heads at least from 
the Essex breed. The improved Oxfords are the result 
of a judicious blending of pure ISTeapolitan, Berkshire, 
and improved Essex blood ; and throughout the midland 
and western counties, the results of Lord Western's 
Italian tour are to be found in every parish where a black 
pig is patronized. 

" The history of this breed aftbrds a good illustration of 
the advantages of the system under which landlords. 
Stimulated by patiiotism or competition, or mere love of 



IMPEOVEMENT OF THE ENGLISH BREEDS OP PIGS. 55 

things agricultural, breed and experiment with great zeal, 
varied success, and little or no profit, until they reach the 
point where the tenant farmer, with sufficient capital, 
equal zeal, and a clear eye to the £. s. d., takes up the 
work, breeds, and works the problem out with a degree 
of practical knowledge, personal attention, and enthusi- 
asm, which few, except farmers breeding for a profit, can 
contrive to combine, and persevere to bestow for a long 
series of years, 

" Foreign governments endeavor, with very limited suc- 
cess, to produce the efiect of our aristocratic breeding 
enthusiasts by government studs. But an official, however 
gilded, titled, or crossed, has never the influence of a peer 
or squire ; and besides his name, the raw materials — the 
working bees, the great tenant farmers — are wanting on 
the continent. 

" The improved Essex are ranked amongst the small 
breeds, and there they are most profitable ; but exception- 
al specimens have been exhibited at agricultural shows in 
the classes for large breeds, as, for instance, at Chelms- 
ford, in 1856. 

"There is probably no black pig which combines more 
good qualities, as either porker or ba^on hog, than the 
produce of an improved Essex boar and an improved 
Berkshire sow." 

The facts here narrated are of great importance as il- 
lustrating the principles of breeding which we have en- 
deavored to lay down in the first chapters of this work. 
The old Essex pigs were great eaters. All the authorities 
mention this fact as one of the objections to the breed. 
The Lord Western Essex were highly refined pigs, of 
good form, little, ofial, maturing very early, and fattening 
•with great rapidity, but destitute of size and vigor. 
Crossed with selected sows of the old, hardy, vigoro\is 
race, the offspring possessed the form, early maturity, and 
fattening qualities of the improved breed, united with the 



56 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

constitution of the common stock. They had the stomach 
of the mother, and the refinement of the sire. No won- 
der that they " have an excessive aptitude to fatten." 
What else can they do with the large amount of food 
they are capable of eating and digesting except to convert 
it into flesh and fat ? There is a minimum of offal in this 
"breed, and they are exceedingly quiet. There is little 
demand on the large quantity of food they can eat, and 
nearly the whole of it must be converted into flesh and 
fat ; and we have endeavored to show the immense ad- 
vantasre of having: an animal that will consume a consid- 
arable excess of food over and above that required to 
sustain the vital functions. In this view of the matter it 
is easy to see why the Improved Essex proved such a use- 
ful breed in the hands of intelligent farmers. 

Many other similar instances of the improvement of 
English breeds might be given, but it is not necessary to 
do so. The principle which underlies them all is the same. 
A large, vigorous, healthy sow, crossed with a highly re- 
fined, thorough-bred boar, and the offspring carefully bred 
until the desired qualities become established in the new 
or improved breed. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE MODERN BREEDS OF ENGLISH PIGS. 

English writers on swine, twenty years ago, describe a 
dozen or more breeds of jjigs, then kept in England, and 
nearly as many more in Scotland and Ireland. Youatt 
and Richardson, both of whose works on the pig were re- 
printed in this country, give a full account of these old 
breeds. Many of these breeds have been, at one time or 
another, introduced into the United States and Canada; 



THE MODERN BREEDS OF ENGLISH PIGS. 57 

but comparatively few of them have been kept pure, 
* either here or in England. The common stock of pigs in 
America is made up of these old breeds. Occasionally 
we see a pig that has some distinct characteristics recog- 
nizable as belonging to some known breed, but, as a gen- 
eral rule, it is imj)ossible to trace the slightest resemblance 
to any distinct breed, either of the past or the present. 

The same is true, to a considerable extent, in England. 
The common stock of pigs is of such a mixed character, 
that it can be traced to no particular breed. Many of the 
old breeds have become extinct. We have so-called 
"Cheshire " pigs in America, but there is no such breed 
raised or known in Cheshire, and has not been for twenty 
years or more. 

Culley, in his work entitled " Observations on Live- 
stock," published in 1807, gives ^a well authenticated ac- 
count of a Cheshire pig which measured, from the nose 
to the end of the tail 9 feet, 8 inches, and in height, 4 
feet, 5|- inches. When alive, it weighed 1,410 lbs., and 
when dressed, 1,215 lbs. The age is not given. It was 
probably as fat as it could be made, and yet it only 
dressed 80|- per cent of its live weight. 

This breed, if we may call it a breed, was evidently 
very large and coarse. It is described as " remarkably 
long, standing very high, on long, bony legs ; head large, 
ears long and hanging ; back much curved, and narrow ; 
sides flat and deep ; color white, blue and white, black 
and white." This breed has become extinct. 

The old Yorkshire or Lincolnshire breed is described in 
Morton's Cyclopedia as "one of the largest breeds in 
the kingdom, and probably one of the worst ; extremely 
long-legged, and weak loined ; very long from head to 
tail ; color chiefly w^hite, with long, coarse, curly hair ; 
tolerable feeders, but yielding a coarse, flabby flesh, of in- 
ferior marketable quality." 

It is from this race of pigs that the modern Yorkshire, 
3* 



58 



HARRIS OX tup: PTG. 




THE MODERN BREEDS OF ENGLISH PIGS. 59 

now perhaps the most popular breed in England, has been 
derived. This breed is divided into three classes: the 
Large, Medium, and Small. 

THE LARGE YORKSHIRES. — (Figs. 13, 14 and 15.) 

We have shown what the old Lincolnshire and York- 
shire pig was before any especial elForts had been made to 
improve it. In 1854, Mr. A. Clarke, of Long Sutton, 
Lincolnshire, the author of a valuable treatise on the 
breeding and management of pigs in Morton's Cy- 
clopedia of Agriculture, writes : " In the adjoining county 
of Yorkshire the breeders have outdone the Lincolnshire 
breeders in point of size, but not in any other respect. 
The specimens lately exhibited at our meetings, of the 
large Yorkshire breed, by Messrs. Abbot, Taylor, Tuley, 
and others, have attained a size too large for any useful 
purpose, and would exceed in weight that of a moderately 
grown Scotch ox. The present taste of the j^ublic is de- 
cidedly set against such an overgrown sort ; at present, 
however, they make large prices." "We believe there is 
now no breed known as the Lincolnshire. It has been 
merged in the Yorkshire. 

Of the old, unimproved large Yorkshire, Sidney 
says : " It was a long time coming to full size, and 
could be fed up to 800 lbs., but whether with any profit, 
is doubtful. It was and is still very hardy, and a very 
prolific breeder. Attempts have been made to improve it 
by crossing Avith the Berkshire, Essex, Neapolitan, and 
other black breeds, which produced a black and white 
race. Those from the Berkshire are a hardy, useful sort, 
but fatten slowly ; the other crosses have little or no hair, 
are too delicate for the North, and are fast wearing out. 

** The first step taken in the right direction for improv- 
ino- the old Yorkshire seems to have been the introduction 
of the White Leicesters. These were a large sort, with 



HARBIS ON THE PIG. 




THE MODERN BREEDS OF ENGLISH PIGS. CI 

smaller heads than the old York, erect ears, finer in the 
hair, and lighter in the bone. 

" The improvement in the York large breed commenced 
early in the century, when the White Leicesters were in- 
troduced. The general run of pigs in the grain-growing 
districts of Yorkshire shows that they partake more or 
less of this cross. The old sort is seldom seen except in 
the northern part of the county." 

A Yorkshire correspondent of Mr. Sidney, writing in 
1860, says " The Leicester cross has been still further im- 
proved by putting the largest and best sows of the Lei- 
cester cross to boars of the small white breed from Castle 
Howard'*' and Bransbyf , breeding from the progeny, and 
selecting the largest and best of the young sows and the 
best formed boars for that purpose, taking care that they 
were not too nearly related. By this means the size and 
constitution of the large breed, with the symmetry and 
tendency to fatten of the small breed, have been, in a 
great degree, transmitted to the offspring. If a sow shows 
too much of the old sort, she is put to a boar of the small 
breed for her first litter." 

Such seems to have been the origin of the present breed 

of Large Yorkshires. 

" These improved Large Yorkshires," (says Sidney, in 
I860,) " are principally bred in the valley of the Aire, in 
the neighborhood of Leeds, Keighley, and Skipton. They 
are in great request as breeding stores, and purchased for 
that purpose for every part of the United Kingdom, as 
well as for France, Germany, and the United States, at 
great prices." 

These pigs " can be fed to 60 stone, of 14 lbs., dead 
weight, or 840 lbs. The Prize Boar at the Royal Agri- 
cultural Fair at Chester weighed, ahve, 1,232 lbs. The 



* The Earl of Carlisle, 

+ Mr. Wyley, of Braiisby, introduced a small breed of White Leicesters, now 
called Yorkshires. 



C2 



HARRIS OX THE PIG. 




■^^^^MSMMmUUm 



THE MODEKN BREEDS OF ENGLISH PIGS. 63 

Prize Sow at the Royal Fair at Warwick, 1,204 lbs. At 
Korthallcrton, in 1859, the finest lot of large sows ever 
seen in one place were collected together. Thei-e were at 
least a dozen, each of whose live weight would not be 
much less than half a ton (1,120 lbs). The Iloyal Agri- 
cultural Prize-winner at Norwich was only just good 
enough to get second honors." 

Mr. Wainman, the owner of Carhead Farm, has been 
one of the most successful breeders of the Large York- 
shires, having won more than two hundred prizes, and 
sold, in the language of one of his Yorkshire admirers, 
the produce of one sow " for as much as would build a 
church." Mr. Fisher, who is bailiif at Carhead Farm, 
gives the weight of two of these pigs. One, killed at 
less than 7 months, dressed 255 lbs., and one at 12 months 
old, 489 lbs. 

THE SMALL TOKKSnillES. 

Mr. Mangles, " one of the first pig-breeders and feeders 
in Yorkshire," gives the following description of the Small 
Yorks : " The small Yorkshire is peculiar to Yorkshire, 
and different from any other breed I have seen. It has a 
short head, small, erect ears, broad back, deep chest, and 
short legs, with fine bone. It is always ready to fatten, 
and turn to account either in the way of roasters, small 
porkers, small bacon, or medium. Three or four of the 
small breed might be fed well, and kept fresh and sym- 
metrical on the food which would barely keep one lean 
and gaunt large Yorkshire." 

THE SMALL CUMBERLAND. 

" The Cumberland small breed," says Mr. Sidney, " are 
described by Mr. Brown, of Aspatria, who is one of the 
most noted founders of the modern breed, from whom 
LordDucie purchased some of his most celebrated animals, 
as not small in reality, but a medium size, short in the 



61 



HARRIS ON THE PIG, 




THE MODERN BREEDS OF ENGLISH PIGS. 65 

legs, back broad, straight, and evenly fleshed ; ribs well 
developed, rumps and twists good ; hams well down, and 
low; breast and neck full, and well formed; no creases in 
the neck ; ears clean, fine, of a moderate size, and standing 
a little forward ; nose short ; body evenly covered with 
short, fine hair." 

At the Birmingham show, in 1850, Mr. Brown won all 
first prizes in small breeds for the "best boar," "best 
sow," and *' best pen of pigs," with his Cumberland 
breed ; and sold a boar and sow under six months old for 
forty-three guineas to Earl Ducie. At the sale, on the 
death of the Earl, the sow " Miss Brown " was sold to 
the Rev. F. Thursby for sixty-five guineas, " She paid 
me," he writes to Mr. Sidney, " very well, having sold 
her produce for £300, and have now (February, I860,) 
four breeding sows from her." 

THE YORK-CUMBERLAND BREED (fig. 16). 

Mr. Sidney classes the Small Yorkshire and Cumberland 
together, " because, although originally, they somewhat 
differed in size, — the Cumberland being the larger — they 
are being continually intermixed, with mutual advantage ; 
and pigs of exactly the same form, the result of crosses, 
are constantly exhibited under the names of Yorkshire or 
Cumberland, according to the fancy of the exhibitor." 

Mr. Mangles writes — " The Small Cumberland is a great 
deal larger than the Small Yorkshire. By judiciously 
crossing the two, I have obtained a breed combining size, 
aptitude to fatten, and early maturity. From the Cum- 
berland I got size, and from the Yorkshire quality and 
symmetry. I have tried a great many breeds of pigs, 
and, keeping the pounds, shillings and pence in view, have 
found no breed equal to the Yorkshire and Cumberland 
cross." 

A Warwickshire correspondent of Mr. Sidney writes : 



CO 



HARRIS OX THE PIG. 



" No animal of the pig species carries so great a propor- 
tion of flesh to the quantity of bone, or flesh of as fine a 
quality, as the small Yorkshire, or can be raised at so 
small a cost per pound. With common store food they 
can always be kept in condition — with common care, and 
slight addition to food, they are ready to be killed, for 
porklets, at any age ; and if required for bacon, take one 



I 




I 



Fig'. 17. — PRIZE TORK-CUMBEULAND PIG. SMALL BREED. 

From Farmers' Magazine. 

farrow of pigs from a yelt.* You ought to have from 
seven to ten pigs the first time. I have four sisters, yelts, 
that have brought me thirty-eight pigs this last January. 
They are as pure as * Eclipse,' being descended from the 



* A " yelt " is a young sow before she has had pigs. The idea here is, when it 
is desired to obtain bacon from the small breeds, to take one litter of pigs from 
a young sow, and then fatten her. Ordinarily, it will not pay to keej) these pigs 
long enongh to make large pork: but if a litter of pigs can be obtained in the 
meantime, it is then very profitable. But if we should continue to breed from 
pigs of the first litter, the size would soon become too small. 



THE MODERN ENGLISH BREEDS OF PIGS. 67 

Stock of Earl Ducie and Mr. Wyley, of Bransby, near 
York, and are of good size. I killed a sow this winter 
that weighed 26 score — 520 lbs. 

"The ordinary weight is from 14 to 17 score — 280 lbs. to 
340 lbs. In some cases, where very thick bacon is re- 
quired, they may be profitably got to 30 score — 600 lbs. 
The Small Yorkshire owes its present superiority to 
choice selections, and judicious crossing of different fami- 
lies of the same breed ; by this means size is maintained 
with character," 

These " Small Yorkshires " which this gentleman calls 
as " pure as Eclipse," are descended from the stock of 
Earl Ducie and Mr. Wyley ; but, as has been already 
shown, Earl Ducie purcliased Cumberland pigs from Mr. 
Brown, and Mr. Wyley's original stock were White Lei- 
cesters. 

Mr. Sidney says : *' The Avide extension of this Cum- 
berlnnd and York blood is to be traced wherever the 
Royal Agricultural Society's prizes for white pigs are won. 

" Thus : — Mr. II. Scott Play ward, of Folkington, a prize- 
winner at Chelmsford, in 1856, in small breeds, Avith a 
white sow, states that he has used boars from the follow- 
ing breeders : — The late Earl of Carlisle, Castle Howard ; 
the late Earl of Ducie; the Earl of Radnor, Coleshill ; 
and at present (1860) one from the Prince Consort's stock. 

'• The card of* Mr. Brown's boar ' Liberator ' contains the 
following pedigrees, and shows a distinct connection be- 
tween Cumberland and Yorkshire, and all the most cele- 
brated white breeds in the south : — 

" ' Liberator ' was bred by Earl Ducie, got by ' Glouces- 
ter,' dam 'Beauty' by Lord Radnor's boar, gr.-d. 'Julia 
Bennett ' by Lord Galloway's boar, etc. 

" ' Gloucester ' was bred by the Earl of Ducie, got by 
' General,' dam ' Hannah ' by the ' Yorkshireman ;' gr.-d. 
bred by the Earl of Carlisle, and purchased by Lord 
Ducie at the Castle Howard sale. 



G8 



HA.REIS ON THE PIG. 




THE MODERN ENGLISH BREEDS OP PIGS. 69 

*' 'General,' bred by Mr. Wyley, sold to Mr. Mackintosh, 
of London, and hired by H.R.H. Prince Albert, the Earl 
of Ducie, and Lord Wenlock, and was the sire of two 
pens of pigs, the property of H.R.H. Prince Albert, that 
obtained the first prize at a Smithfield Christmas Show. 

"It may, therefore, safely be assumed that all the best 
white pigs of modern times have been bred from York- 
shire or Cumberland and white Leicesters, or both ; and 
many breeds, such as Middlesex, Coleshill, etc.-, may be 
dismissed as mere variations of the white small Yorkshire. 

" Mr. G. Mangles, of Givendale, near Ripon, Mr. Brown 
writes me, was one of the first to cultivate the cross of 
the York-Cumberlands." 

THE MIDDLE OR MEDIUM TORKSHIRE BREED (Fig. 18). 

" The Yorkshire medium or middle breed," says Mr. 
Sidney, " is a modern invention of Yorkshire pig-breeders, 
and perhaps the most useful and the most popular of the 
white breeds, as it unites, in a striking degree, the good 
qualities of the large and the small. It has been produced 
by a cross of the large and the small York, and the Cum- 
berland, which is larger than the small York. Like the 
large whites, they often have a few pale-blue spots on the 
skin, the hair on these spots being white. All white 
breeds have these spots more or less, and they often in- 
crease in number as the animal grows older. 

"It was not until 1851 that the merits of this breed were 
publicly recognized at a meeting of the * Keighley Agri- 
cultural Society,' when, the judges having called the at- 
tention of the stewards to the fact that several superior 
sows, which were evidently closely allied to the small 
breed, had been exhibited in the large-breed class, the 
aspiring intruders were, by ofiicial authority, withdrawn. 

" They included the since celebrated ' Sontag,' ' Jenny 



TO HAREIS OX THE PIG. 

Lind,' ' Kick-up-a-dust,' and some other distinguished 
griinters, forming altogether snch an imposing troupe^ that 
the authorities gave them a performance {i. e., a class) to 
themselves, with a benefit in tlie shape of first and second 
prizes, and called them the ' middle breed.^ 

"This examj^le was generally adopted throughout York- 
shire, and at local shows they are the strongest and best- 
filled of all the classes. 

" The j^rincipal prize-takers amongst the boars in this 
breed have been ' Paris,' ' Nonpareil,' ' Lord Raglan,' * Sir 
Colin,' and ' Wonder ;' and amongst the sows, ' Zenobia,' 
' Lady Airdale,' who held her own during two seasons, in 
one of which she took ten prizes, 'Craven,' 'Lady Kate,' 
' Queen Anne,' and ' Miss Emily ' (see portrait), who has 
never found her marrow, having taken nine first prizes in 
succession, including the champion cup at Caldervale show 
in 1859, for the best pig in all classes. This competition 
brought all Yorkshire, sevei-al Warwick, Royal Highland 
Society, Dublin and Irish Royal, as well as Cheshire and 
Lancashire champions, to the Cloth Hall, Halifax. 
Amongst the rest, ' Carswell,' the second winner in the 
large boar class at Warwick, entered in the middle class, 
and carried off the first prize in that class ; but in the 
trial for the championship, he was beaten like the rest, 
nnd the plate, with the ' white rosette of York,' went to 
' Miss Emilt,' whose girth, taken behind the shoulder, 
was at this time eighty-five inches. She fully qualified 
for all the prizes she had taken as a breeding sow, by 
producing at Carhead the following October a fine litter 
of pigs. 

" The middle Yorkshire breed are about the same size as 
the Berkshire breed, but have smaller heads, and are much 
lighter in the bone. They are better breeders than the 
small whites, but not so good as the large whites ; in fact, 
they occupy a position in every respect between these two 
breeds." 



THE MODERN- EJ^^GLISH BREEDS OF PIGS. 71 




72 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

WHITE LEICESTEES (Fig. 19). 

We can ascertain nothing satisfactory in regard to the 
origin of this breed of pigs. This is the more to be re- 
gretted as the fact that they were " the great improvers 
of the gigantic Yorks," invests them with more than ordi- 
nary interest. 

Mr. J. W. Williams, of Somersetshire, is the principal 
breeder of White Leicesters. He first exhibited in 1852, 
and has taken the Smithfield Club gold medal, two gold 
medals at the Paris Exj^osition in 1855, and numerous 
other prizes. The portrait of the Paris Prize Leicesters 
is given on page 71 (fig. 19). Mr. Williams states that 
his fat pigs of this breed generally average the following 
weights : 

5 to 6 months, 7 to 9 score lbs 140 to 180 lbs. 

8 " 10 to 12 " " 200 to 240 " 

10 " 12 to 15 " " 240 to 300 " 

12 to 18 " 15 to 18 " " 300 to 360 " 

The pen of three pigs of this breed which received the 
Smithfield Club gold medal in 1854 weighed, sinking ofial, 
at 18 weeks old, 180 lbs. each. 

SUFFOLK AND OTHER WHITE BREEDS. 

Mr Sidney says : " Yorkshire stands in the first rank 
as a pig-breeding county, possessing the largest white 
breed in England, as well as an excellent medium and 
small breed, all white, the last of which, transplanted into 
the south, has figured and won prizes under the names of 
divers noblemen and gentlemen, and more than one 
county. The Yorkshire are closely allied with the Cum- 
berland breeds, and have been so much intermixed that, 
with the exception of the very largest breeds, it is difii- 
cult to tell where the Cumberland begins, and where the 
Yorkshire ends. It will be enough to say, for the present, 



THE MODERN ENGLISH BREEDS OF PIGS. Vo 

that the modern Manchester boar, the improved Suffolk, 
the improved Middlesex, the Colesliill, and the Prince 
Alberts or Windsors, were all founded on Yorkshire- 
Cumberland stock, and some of them are merely pure 
Yorkshires transplanted, and re-christened." 

Speaking of the pigs kept in the dairy district of 
Cheshire, he says : " White pigs have not found favor 
with the dairymen of Cheshire, and the white ones most 
used are 'Manchester boars,' another name for tbe York- 
shire-Cumberland breed. ' Mr. Youatt,' he says, in an^ 
other place, ' and all the authors who have followed him, 
down to the latest work published on the subject, occupy 
space in describing various county pigs which have long 
ceased to possess, if ever they possessed, any merit worthy 
of the attention of the breeder. Thus the Norfolk, the 
Suffolk, the Bedford, the Rudywick, the Cheshire, the 
Gloucester breeds, have each a separate notice, not one of 
which, except the Suffolk, is worthy of cultivation, and 
the Suffolk 18 only another name for a small ITorhshire 
pig:' 

BLACK BREEDS. 

If all the modern white breeds in England, of any 
special value to the breeder, are Yorkshires, or York- 
Cumberland and Leicesters, it is equally true that there 
are but two breeds of black pigs that deserve any special 
attention — the Essex and Berkshire. 

" Black pigs and tlieir crosses," says Mr. Sidney, " oc- 
cupy almost exclusively the counties of Berks, Hants, 
Wilts, Dorset, Devon, and Somerset. Sussex has a black 
county breed, and in Essex a black-and-white pig has be- 
come all black. In the Western counties, the prejudice 
against a white pig is nearly as strong as against a black 
one in Yorkshire. In Devonshire, white pigs are supposed 
to be more subject to blistering from the sun when pas- 
turing in the fields. 



74 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

"For breeding purposes, the black breeds may be divided 
into two — the improved Berkshire and the improved 
Essex, because there is no dark breed that has special 
characteristics so well worth cultivation as these two, and 
there is no black pig that may not be advantageously 
crossed by boars of one or both of these breeds. Hamp- 
shire has an ancient, coarse, and useful breed of black 
pigs. They are inferior to Berkshire, and not in tlie same 
reiined class as Essex, therefore not worth taking from 
their native county" 

BERKSHIRE. 

" Among the black breeds," says Mr. Sidney, " by uni- 
versal consent, the improved Berkshire hog stands at the 
head of the list, either to breed pure, or to cross with 
inferior breeds. The Berkshire was originally a large 
breed (it has very recently carried off prizes in the large 
classes at Royal Agricultural and other shows) of a 
black-and-white and sandy-spotted color, as represented in 
the portrait given by Mr. Youatt (fig. 12), in this respect 
distinctly differing from its neighbor, the old black 
Hampshire hog, rather coarse, but of general form very 
superior to the old white and black-and-white farm hog 
of the northern counties. 

"The late Lord Barrington (who died in 1829) did a 
great deal towards improving the Berkshire breed, and the 
improved Berkshires are almost all traced l)ack to his herd. 
They are now considered by Berkshire farmers to be di- 
vided into middle (not a large breed) and a small breed. 
If first-class, they should be Avell covered with long black 
silky hair, so soft that the problem of ' making a silk 
purse out of a sow's ear ' might be solved with a prize 
Berkshire. The white should be confined to ^ four white 
feet, a white spot hetweeji the eyes^ and a few white hairs 
behind each shoidder.'* 



THE MODERN ENGLISH BREEDS OP PIGS. 



<•) 




76 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

"At Mr. Sadler's, Bentham, near Cricklade, one of the 
most successful improvers of Berkshires, and eminent as a 
manufacturer of North Wiltshire cheese, the committee 
of the Ayrshire Agricultural Association saw ' three hun- 
dred, every one of which was marked, in this manner.' 

" Mr. Sadler ohtained. his original stock from the late 
Lord Barrington's herd. At Baker Street, be once won 
the prize for the best fat pig in the yard, with a sow near- 
ly four years old, (a portrait of which is given in fig. 
20,) which had been the mother of a numerous progeny. 
She was 6 ft. 4 in. in length, 7 ft. 6 in. in girth, and 
weighed 42 score, 16 lbs., or 856 lbs., — more than many 
fat heifers. But it seems to be the general oiiinion of 
feeders that Berkshires pay best at moderate weights. 

" To develop the full size, they must not be allowed to 
breed until twelve months old at least. Mr. Sadler con- 
siders the improved Berks superior to any other (black?) 
breed, for size, quality, hardiness of constitution prolific- 
ness, early maturity, and aptitude to fatten. 

*'My friend Mr. Thomas Owen, of Clapton, Hungerford, 
who has had, in his forty years' experience as a Berkshire 
farmer, ' some thousand through his hands dead,' writes 
me : 

" * I remember the Berks pig a much larger and coarser 
animal than now ; at present they are a medium, not a 
large breed. They have been improved by judicious se- 
lection and distant crosses with the Neapolitan, which 
haA'e added to their fattening qualities. They are much 
esteemed by butchers for evenness of flesh (that is, more 
lean to the proportion of fat) than any other breed, — and 
this is a good recommendation.' 

*'The late Kev. T. C. James, who w^as a successful exhib- 
itor of pigs at Chelmsford, and one of the judges of pigs 
at the Royal Agricultural Society's show at Warwick, in 
1859, wrote : ' The improved Berkshire is a good big 
animal, well calculated to produce a profitable flitch. A 5 



THE MODEEN ENGLISH BREEDS OF PIGS. 




78 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

good little pig is very well, but a good big i)ig is better, 
it' with ai^titude to fatten : two exhibited at Chelmsford, 
in 1856, (of Sadler's breed) weighed, each, twelve score at 
seven months old, and with that weight, were of such 
good constitution, that they were well upon their legs. 
They had walking exercise in an orchard every day while 
fattening.' 

" One of the most extensive farmers in West Norfolk 
writes : ' Dissatisfied with the Norfolk pigs, I flew to 
Mr. Sadler, of Beiitham, Wilts, gave him 20 guineas for 
three sows and a boar. I sold over one hundred in the 
first eighteen months for £2 each when ten weeks old, and 
the only complaint I have is, that they do not breed so 
many as the old Norfolks ; but I say eight or nine good 
ones are better than ten or eleven ordinary ones. They 
are good graziers, and our butchers are very fond of 
them. There is plenty of lean meat with the fat, which 
is not the case with the fancy pigs. The cross between 
the Berks boar and Norfolk sow (white), like all cross 
breeds, is most profitable to the feeder, but Ave must have 
pure breeds first.' 

"This Norfolk opinion," says Mr. S., " is confirmed by all 
my correspondence. The Berkshire Y>ig is in fixvor in 
every dairy district, either pure or as a cross, but chiefly 
as a cross; he does not fatten so quickly as some other 
breeds, but his constitution and bacon quality are famous. 

"The average weight of a bacon improved Berkshire 
hog, fit to kill, will be about 400 lbs. The ham-curers 
who purchase from these farms, prefer the small breed of 
Berkshires, of from nine to fourteen score. 

"The improved Berkshire boar was used to give size and 
constitution, many years ago, to the Essex ; and the most 
eminent breeder of Essex has informed me that on one 
occasion, in a litter of Essex pigs, two little pictures of 
the Berkshire boar, their remote ancestors by at least 
twenty-eight years, appeared. It seems to be generally 



THE MODERN ENGLISH BREEDS OF PIGS. 



79 




vaiiftnH! 



I 



80 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

agreed that the Berks breed is best adapted for hams and 
bacon, and not for small fresh pork. As I have already- 
mentioned, the Berks boar has been used to cross the 
large breed in Yorkshire, but without permanently satis- 
factory results in establishing a breed ; for a first cross with 
almost any breed, it is sure to produce a well-sized useful 
animal. In reply to questions addressed through the 
landlord of the Arley Hall estate, in Cheshire, to his prin- 
cipal tenants, it seems that the dairy farmer of that 
county finds it profitable to cross the dark or spotted sows 
which they have in tlie county, and also those they pur- 
chase largely from Shropshire and Wales, with a Berk- 
shire boar. The produce is all, or nearly all, made into, 
and sold for making bacon. On tlie other hand, in Kent, 
Mr. Betts, of Preston Hall, buys Berkshire sows and 
crosses them with a white Windsor boar, 'the produce 
being invariably white." 

IMPROVED ESSEX (Fig. 22). 

We have already, given some account of this celebrated 
breed, but the American farmer will be glad to read what 
Mr. Sidney writes in regard to it. He says: "The im- 
proved Essex is one of the best pigs of the small black 
breeds, well calculated for producing pork and hams of 
the finest quality for fashionable markets ; but its great- 
est value is as a cross for giving quality and maturity to 
black pigs of a coarser, hardier kind. It occupies, with 
respect to the black breeds, the same position that the 
small Cumberland- Yorks do as to white breeds— that is to 
say, an improved Essex boar is sure to improve the prod- 
uce of any large dark sow. 

"The original Essex pig was a party-colored animal, 
black, with white shoulders, nose, and legs— in fact, a sort 
of * sheeted ' pig, large, upright, and coarse in bone. 

" The first improvement was made by the late Lord West- 



THE MODERN ENGLISH BREEDS OF PIGS. 



81 



em, when Mr. Western, an Essex squire, who divided his 
life pretty equally between the cultivation of live-stock 
and the passionate support of the politics of his friend, 
Charles James Fox. Wiiile traveling in Italy (making 
the grand tour), he observed, admired, and secured a male 
and female of the breed called Neapolitan, ' found in its 
greatest purity (according to a letter addressed by Lord 




FiiT. 23. — LORD WESTERN ESSEX. 



Western to Earl Spencer in the Farmers' 3fagazme, Janu- 
ary, 1839) in the beautiful peninsula, or rather tongue of 
land, between the Bay of Naples and the Bay of Salerno. 
. . A breed of very peculiar and valuable qualities, the 
flavor of the meat being excellent, and the disposition to 
fotten on the smallest quantity of food unrivaled.' 

"From this pair Mr. Western (afterwards Lord Western) 

bred in-and-in, until the breed was in danger of becoming 

extinct — a sure result of in-and-in breeding. He then 

turned to Essex, and, there is reason to believe, to black 

4* 



82 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

Sussex and Berkshire sows ; and obliterating the white 
of the old Essex, produced a class of animals of which he 
says, in the letter already quoted : ' I have so completely 
engrafted this stock upon British breeds, that I think my 
herd can scarcely be distinguished from the pure blood " 
(of Neapolitans). (See figure 23.) 

" The Western Essex pigs had great success at agricul- 
tural shows. The old Essex, with its ' roach back, long 
legs, sharp head, and restless disposition,' Avas capable of 
being made very fat, but then it required time and an un- 
limited supply of food. The advantage of a cross with 
the Italian Avas obvious, and the fact that the new breed 
was in the hands of a popular county squire was no small 
help in extinguishing the native and unprofitable parti- 
colored race. 

" But as Lord Western bred exclusively from his own 
stock — having attained what he considered perfection — 
always selecting the neatest and most perfect males and 
females, his breed gradually lost size, muscle, and consti- 
tution, and consequently fecundity ; and at the time of 
liis death, in 1844, while whole districts had benefited 
from the cross, the Western herd had become more orna- 
mental than useful. 

"But, in the meantime, the well-known Mr. Fisher 
Hobbs, of Boxted Lodge, then a young tenant farmer at 
Mark's Hall, on the Western estate, had taken up, among 
other farm live-stock, the Essex pig, and made use of the 
privilege he enjoyed of using Lord Western's male ani- 
mals to establish a breed on strong, hardy black Essex 
sows, even if somewhat rough and coarse, crossed with 
the Neapolitan-Essex boars. On the carefully selected 
produce of these, divided and kept as pure separate fam- 
ilies, he established the breed that he first exhibited, and 
has since become famous as the ' Improved Essex^ a title 
which Lord Western himself adopted when his tenant and 
pupil had successfully competed with him. On Lord 



THE MODEEN ENGLISH BREEDS OF PIGS. 




Fia;. 24.— essex boar. 




Fii;-. 25.— ESSEX sow. 



84 



HARRIS OX THE PIG. 



Western's death, Mr. Hobbs purchased his best breeding 
sows. The difference between Lord Western's Essex 
and Mr. Fisher Ilobbs' improved Essex, is shown very 
plainly by the two portraits which illustrate this section, 
the one drawn by Mr. Youatt, in 1845 (fig. 23), and the 
other from*' Emperor,' an eight-year-old working boar 
drawn for me in April, 18G0 (fig. 22). 

" The improved Essex, with symmetry, have more size 
and constitution than the original Essex-Neapolitans, and 







Fig. 26. — ESSEX sow. 



this has been maintained without any crosses for more 
than twenty years, by judicious selection from the ' three 
distinct families.' " 

Very excellent specimens of the Essex pigs are owned 
by various breeders in this country. We give engravings 
(figs. 25, 26, 27) from photographs of animals owned by 
L. A. Chase, Esq., Northampton, Mass., descended from 
animals imported by Samuel Thorne, Esq., from Fisher 
Hobbs' stock. They are in only working condition. 



THE MODERN ENGLISH BREEDS OF PIGS. 85 

IMPROVED OXFORDSHIRE. 

" These black pigs," says Mr. Sidney, " although they 
are scarcely numerous enough to enable them to claim 
the title of a breed, are interesting, because representing 
a successful attempt to unite the best qualities of the 
Berkshire and improved Essex. The old Oxfordshire 
breed were very like the old Berkshire. The first great 
improvement is traced to two Neapolitan boars imported 
by the late Duke of Marlborough when Marquis of Bland- 
ford, and presented by him to Mr. Druce, senior, of Eyns- 
ham, and the late Mr. Smallbones, in 1837. These Nea- 
politans were used with Berkshire sows, some of which 
were the result of Chinese crosses. Two families of jet- 
black pigs were formed by Mr. Smallbones an<l Mr. Druce. 
On the death of Mr. Smallbones, Mr. Samuel Druce, juii., 
purchased the best of his stock, and had from his father, 
and also from Mr. Fisher Hobbs, improved Essex boars. 
The produce were a decided ' hit,' and very successful at 
local. Royal, and Smith field Club shows. The improved 
Oxfords are of fair size, and all black, with a fair quantity 
of hair, very prolific, and good mothers and sucklers. 

"Mr. Samuel Druce writes me: 'I have recently used 
one of Mr. Crisp's black Suffolk boars. In fact, wherever 
opportunity offers, I obtain good fresh blood of a suitable 
black breed, with the view of obtaining more lean meat 
than the Essex, better feeding qualities than the pure 
Berkshires, and plenty of constitution. I have never been 
troubled with any diseases among my pigs. Without 
change of boars of a different tribe, if of the same breed, 
constitution cannot be preserved. Where breeding in- 
and-in from a limited stock is persisted in, constitution is 
lost, the produce of each sow becomes small in size and 
few in number.' The Oxford dairy farms have a first-rate 
market for pork in the University. Porkers at thirteen 
to sixteen weeks are wanted to weigh 60 lbs. to 90 lbs. ; 



86 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

bacon pigs at nine to ten months, 220 lbs. to 280 lbs., but 
at that age the improved Oxfords are easily brought to 
400 lbs." 

BLACK AND EED PIGS. "^^M 

" Birmingham has long been one of the greatest pig 
markets in the kingdom, and the pig-breeding of the 
district has been not a little affected and improved by the 
winter fat-stock show, which has for some years past been 
held there, at Bingley Hall, with great success. The town 
of Birmingham unites Staffordshire and Warwickshire. 
The old Warwickshire breed was a white or party-colored 
animal of the old-fashioned farm-yard type, and has never 
been improved into a special breed. The Staffordshire 
breed w^as the ' Tam worth.' At present the Tamworth 
are rapidly going out of favor with farmers, from the 
want of aptitude to fatten, and are being replaced by use- 
ful pigs, the result of miscellaneous crosses of no special 
character. The best are the middle-sized white pigs, a 
cross of the Cumberland-York with local white breeds, 
often called the Cheshire. The northern cross improves 
the constitution, and gives hair of the right quality, 'hard, 
but not too much or too coarse.' 

" At Bingley Hall the class of Berkshire breeding-pigs 
under six months old generally brings from twenty to 
twenty-five pens. At present, however, the Berkshires in 
the Birmingham district are chiefly in the hands of ama- 
teur farmers, tenant farmers not having taken very kindly 
to them. 

" But the breed must be spreading rapidly if the ready 
sale of the young pigs at the Birmingham show be taken 
as evidence. 

"Mr. Joseph Smith, of Henley-in-Arden, one of the most 
successful exhibitors of Berkshires, keeps three or four 
sows, and sells all their young ; and others find the de- 
mand for young pigs constant throughout the year. 



I ............... . 

H *' Mr. Thomas Wright, of Quarry House, Great Barr, 
H(Ayho did so much toward founding the Bingley Hall 
^■show,) considers the cross of the Berkshire with the Tam- 
^worth 'produces the most profitable bacon pigs in the 
kingdom, the Berkshire blood giving an extraordinary 
tendency to feed, and securing the early maturity in wliich 
alone the Tamworth breed is deficient. The cross of the 
Berkshire boar with large white sows has been found to 
produce most satisfactory results to plain farmers. My 
own notion with regard to all agricultural stock is, that 
we should abandon crosses and stick to our pure breeds, 
adapting them to our particular wants by careful selec- 
tion.' 

"The Tamworth Breed is a red, or red-and-black pig, — 
hardy, prolific, and the best specimens well shaped, but 
slow in maturing. It seems a near relation to the old 
Berkshire ; but modern Berks breeders carefully exclude 
all red-marked pigs from their breeding-sheds. Reddish 
hairs at the tips of the ears of Essex would be permitted 
and admired. Mr. Alderman Baldwin, of Birmingham, 
is a noted breeder of this hardy, useful pig, which, how- 
ever, does not seem to have any success as a prize winner. 
At the Royal Agricultural Show at Warwick, 1859, the 
Yorkshire and Berkshire breeds divided all the honors." 

DEVONS. 

" Devonshire," says Mr. Sidney, " has an excellent breed 
of black pigs, which partake, for the most part, of the 
character of the improved Essex and Berkshire. The 
climate seems to require less hair than the northern and 
midland counties. Mr. George Turner, the great cattle- 
breeder of Devon, has done a good deal in the last forty 
years towards improving the west country black pigs by 
his ' stud ' and importations. 

*' The ' original Devon pigs were valued according to 



88 HARRIS OX THE PIG. 

the length of their bodies, ears, noses, tail, and hair ; the 
longer the better, without reference to quality or sub- 
stance,' just like some Devonshire squires of 500 ragged 
acres, who value themselves on the length of a pedigree 
unilluminated by a single illustrious name or action. 
' They were of no particular color or character ; but within 
the last forty years they have been improved perhaps 
more than any other stock, by judicious crosses and im- 
portations.' Within the last twenty years a good deal 
of Mr. Fisher Hobbs' stock (Essex) has been intro- 
duced, and seem well adapted to the climate. The Berk- 
shires ore also much approved. Mr. George Turner's 
stock * are black, with short faces, thick bodies, small 
bone, and but little hair, and exhibit as much good breed, 
shape, and constitution, as any tribe of pigs in the king- 
dom, and have won as many prizes at the breeding-stock 
shows of the Royal Agricultural Society.' 

" ' At eighteen months old they generally make from 18 
to 20 score — 360 lbs to 400 lbs., sinking the offal. 

"Some of the original breed of the county may still be 
seen in parts of North Devon ; they will jump a fence 
that would puzzle many horses and some hunters. But, 
taken as a whole, the pig stock of Devonshire is far above 
the average of other counties ; the black pig being, per- 
haps, the only foreigner who has ever been cordially wel- 
comed as a settler in that very exclusive county." 

DOESETS. 

" Dorset," says Mr. Sidney, " has no reputation as a 
pig-breeding county ; but one breeder, Mr. John Coate, 
of Hamoor, has achieved a reputation for his Improved 
Dorsets, by winning, amongst other prizes, the gold 
medal for the best pen of pigs in the Smithfield Club 
Show not less than five times, viz., 1850, 1851, 1852, 1855, 
and 1856. 



THE MODERN ENGLISH BREEDS OF PIGS. 89 

" Mr. Coate writes me that he purchased, about ' twenty- 
years ago, a boar and sow in Somersetshire, of a breed 
said to have been sent from Turkey. They resembled, in 
some measure, the wild boar,* being short on the leg, 
with very long, wiry hair, black in color, and very inclined 
to fatten. I was led to believe it was a mixture between 
the wild boar and Neapolitan breeds. I crossed them 
with some Chinese I had, and by so doing, both ways, pro- 
duced the animals I named, when first exhibited, the 
* Dorset breed,' although not properly ; but they had, 
from their beauty, previously found their way into many 
farm-yards in the county. I had two distinct breeds to 
begin with (Mr. Coate means, I presume, the Chinese- 
Turks and the Turk-Chinese,) which I kept pure a long 
time for crossing ; but as both wore away, have used my 
own stock as far akin as possible, and have once or twice 
introduced fresh blood by getting a boar as much like my 
own as I could. I have tried crosses with other breeds, 
but not liking the offspring, got rid of them again. 
Crosses answer well for profit to the dairyman, as you get 
more constitution and quicker growth; but for me, who 
sell a great number of pigs for breeding purposes, I find 
it will not do, as it requires many years to get anything 
like purity of blood again. With all animals, the first or 
second cross is good ; but if you ever get away from the 
pure breed, it requires years and great attention to regain 
it, as the cross often shows itself in color or shape years 
after it has taken place, when you fancy you are quite 
safe.' 

" There is no manner of doubt that Mr. Coate's Dorsets 
have been improved by a strong cross of Mr. Hobbs' im- 
proved Essex. Experienced pig judges tell me that they 
carry the relationship plainly in their faces ; and this 



* According to this description, they did not in the least resemble any wild 
boar I have ever seen.— S. S. 



90 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

would be a safe cross, both being derived from Neapoli- 
tans. 

" But Dorset, as a county, is so far from being celebrated 
for pigs, that one of the greatest dairy farmers, who feeds 
Avhole herds, writes me—' All I know is, that our breed 
of pigs is very bad.' 

" They are, for the most part, black and white, of a Berk- 
shire character. The ancient Dorset pig is said to have 
been blue, perhaps the original of the blue boar. One 
well-known parish in Dorset is called ' Toller Porcorum.' " 

Mr. Sidney certainly deserves credit for the boldness 
with which he endeavors to classify the different breeds 
of English pigs. It is not an easy or an agreeable task. 

It would seem from the facts given above that the 
"White Breeds are decidedly of a mixed origin. The 
Yorkshire breeders furnish pedigrees, but if we may judge 
from the specimen given on page 67, these pedigrees, when 
analyzed, show conclusively that the breeders who have 
been most celebrated as prize-winners, have found it de- 
sirable to resort to an occasional cross. They have aimed 
to produce a pig that will grow rapidly, and fat at an 
early age. In other words, they have aimed, as breeders, 
to produce what we want as feeders. This is, we think, a 
mistake. The object of the breeder should be to pro- 
duce a pig which, when crossed with common sows, will 
produce the best pigs for fattening. 

Agricultural Societies will not allow a grade Shorthorn, 
or a grade Hereford, or a grade Devon, or a grade Ayr- 
sliire to compete with a thorough-bred. But both in 
England and America, pigs are sliown without reference to 
pedigree ; and as long as this is the case, the breeders of 
thorough-bred pigs receive injury rather than benefit from 
these exhibitions. None but thorough-breds should be 
allowed to compete with thorough-breds. The importance 
of " pedigree " is admitted, but the societies do not insist 



THE MODERN ENGLISH BREEDS OF PIGS. 91 

upon it, and the consequence is that nearly all the prizes 
go to grade pigs, or to some recently made-up breed. 

If one of these successful exhibitors of a made-up breed 
is a conscientious man, he endeavors to keep his j)igs pure, 
and every year they become more valuable for the purpose 
of improving common stock, but less likely to take a 
prize. Mr. Mangles' York-Cumberlands, of which we 
give a beautiful portrait on page 66, are as handsome pigs 
as can be desired ; but if kept pure for a dozen genera- 
tions, they will be no better than they are now for " show" 
purposes ; in fact, tliey will probably not be as good. 
Some newly made-up breed, with equal refinement, but 
with stronger digestive organs, will take on flit more 
rapidly and will win the gold medal — as they themselves 
did when not lialf as valuable for the purpose of im- 
proving ordinary stock as they are now. 

We cannot better conclude this account of the English 
breeds than by copying the following remarks from Mr. 
Sidney's book : 

" It will be right to say a few words about two or three 
^ county pigs of no particular merit, but which, neverthe- 
less, are ' familiar in our mouths as household words.' 
For instance, there is the Hampshire Hog — a name used, 
very unjustly, no doubt, to designate a county man as 
well as a county pig. There are some very pretty things 
to be said about the herds of swine in the New Forest, 
but they have been said so often, that they are scarcely 
worth repeating. The county animal is black or spotted 
with red, and about the size of a Berkshire, but coarser, 
and has had less attention paid to its improvement. There 
are also a considerable number of white pigs in Hamp- 
shire. Like every other breed Avithin reach of a good 
market, they have been much improved Avithin the last 
twenty years ; but no Hampshire man has made himself 
celebrated as a pig-breeder, and I cannot find any instance 
of Hampshire pigs taking prizes at the Smithfield Show ; 



03 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

therefore, it may be concluded that, although the county 
abounds in useful animals, it is not worth while to resort 
to it either for establishing a new or improving an old 
breed. Of his class, the Berkshire is a better animal than 
the dark Hampshire hog, both having, when unimproved, 
a want of thickness through the shoulder, which has been 
corrected by a cross of Neapolitan or Essex, and both are 
slow feeders. 

" The Lincolnshire Pig cannot now be distinguished 
from Yorkshire. At the Lincoln Royal Agricultural So- 
ciety's Show, tlie prizes were easily carried away by 
Berkshires; but that proves nothing, as some judges 
never give a prize to a wliite pig, and others never to a 
black one. 

" The Suffolk, a white pig, once appeared frequently in 
the catalogues, and in the prize-lists of the Smithfield 
Club Show, but of late years it seems to have given way 
to more popular names. Suffolk has a leading breeder of 
pigs in Mr. Crisji, of Butley Abbey ; but he breeds both 
black pigs and white pigs, and calls his black pigs Suf- 
folks, being a sort of cosmopolitan breeder, a purchaser 
of the best pigs he can find of any color. His most cele- 
brated pigs are quite black. Mr. Barthropp, of Creting- 
ham Rookery, celebrated for his Suffolk horses, but not a 
pig-breeder, writes of the swine of his native county in 
terms which might be applied to almost every district not 
distinguished by a thorough-bred sort. ' The old Suf- 
folks were white, with rather long legs, long heads, flat 
sides, and a great deal of coarse hair ; tliey made good 
bacon hogs, but were not so well adapted for porkers as 
the present improved Suffolks are. These are the white, 
with short heads, and long cylindrical bodies upon short 
legs, and fine hair, which breeders try to get long, fine, 
and thin. These are the best Suffolks ; but there are a 
great many about the county, the result of crosses with 
the black Essex, which have ' no character,' although they 



THE MODEEN ENGLISH BEEEDS OF PIGS. 03 

are useful animals.' The best Suffolks, as before men- 
tioned, are Yorkshire-Cumberlands, that have emigrated 
and settled in Suffolk, and thence been transported to 
Windsor. 

" The NoEFOLK Pig, also described by Youatt, is, accord- 
ing to the report of one of the best fanners in the county, 
' an indescribable animal, the result of the mixture of 
many breeds in a hocus pocus or porcus style ; and al- 
thou£(h they have improved of late years, the county 
stands very low in that division of live-stock.' ' They 
really are (writes another Norfolk farmer) a disgrace to 
our county. The only thing to recommend them is, that 
they are great breeders. If they would have three or 
four less, and better quality, it would pay better.' In 
the days of the first Earl of Leicester, he had, of course, 
some good pigs for the time, and they then found their 
way into book, and have remained there ever since. The 
only noted pig-breeder in Norfolk cultivates the improved 
Berkshire. 

" Bedfoedsiiire cannot boast of a county pig, but a pig 
was bred at Woburn, white, with occasional brown spots, 
and depicted in Youatt's original edition of this book, 
which I have the very best Bedfordshire authority for 
saying, was ' a good sort of pig, without any particular 
character, good feeders, but bad swillers, and they were 
therefore allowed to die out, and replaced by Berkshire 
sows, crossed with Suffolk boars. Indeed, the Bedford- 
shire breed were so little known, that a tenant of one of 
the first-class farms of that county told me that ' he did 
not know that they had a breed until he saw it marked 
over one of Prince Albert's pens, about ten years ago, at 
the Smithfield Club.' 

" At present a white breed is the most fashionable, which 
means salable, in Bedfordshire. 

" Another very eminent Bedfordshire farmer says : ' The 



04 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

breed of pigs in this county is wretchedly bad, and has 
been ever since I have known it.' 

" A third writes mo : ' The Woburn breed, described by 
Youatt, was a good sort of pig, of no particular character, 
except great aptitude to fatten. They were discontinued, 
in consequence of the sows being very bad sucklers, in 
favor of a cross-bred animal, the produce of Berkshire 
sows and white Suffolk boars, the best that could be got. 
These are prolific, of good quality, can be fed at any age, 
and to a fair medium weight. A cross like this pays the 
farmer best.' 

" Herefordshire has a useful white pig, but no attention 
has been paid to it. 

" The dairymen in Cheshire breed and buy a great many 
dark pigs, black, black-si)otted, and red-aiid-black, of the 
Shropshire and Welsh breeds, using Berkshire boars, and 
also Manchester or ' Yorkshire ' boars. 

*' A tenant of R. Egerton Warburton, Esq., of Arley 
Hall, writes in answer to a set of questions which that 
gentleman was kind enough to circulate among his tenants: 

" * There is no distinct Cheshire breed. The pigs are 
mostly cross-bred, short-eared, and long-sided. The fa- 
vorite breed is a cross between Berkshire and Chinese.' 

" The Shropshire, of which great numbers are introduced 
into Cheshire by traveling pig-jobbers, are of a dark red- 
and-black color, long-snouted, and lengthy ; not very fine 
in the coat. 

" The Welsh pigs are generally a yellow-white, but some 
are spotted black-and-white. 

"The (Cheshire) dairymen depend more on these Welsh- 
men and proud Salopians than on breeding. The cross 
of the Manchester boar with the Shropshire and Welsh 
produces a larger and coarser breed than the small York- 
shire. 

"The Cheshire farmers buy in their stores at about six- 
teen weeks, feed them from eight to twelve months, and 



THE MODERN ENGLISH BREEDS OP PIGS. 95 

sell them weighing from 240 lbs. to 300 lbs. These are 
considered, in Cheshire, the best selling weights for bacon. 
I observe that the farmer who uses most Welsh pigs keeps 
them twelve months, and sells them at 300 lbs., which will 
scarcely j^ay for four months more keep than the York- 
shire, Manchester, and Shropshire sold after eight months. 

"An immense improvement has taken place in Cheshire 
pigs within the last thirty years, in quality and weight. 
They are made fat at least six months sooner than thirty 
years ago. 

" One farmer says few or no Irish pigs are brought into 
Cheshire; another, a good many, but not so many as 
formerly. The great importation is of Shropshire and 
Welsh. Yet a county member, who ought to be an au- 
thority, writes me that ' Shropshire cannot boast of a 
county pig.' 

"As a general rule, dark pigs would seem to be in favor 
on English dairy farms. 

" The Middlesex is a name which has become known 
from winning prizes at the Smithfield Club, in 1841, 1848, 
1850, 18.51, 1854, 1856. It is not a county pig, but of the 
same class as the Windsor. Mr. Barber, of Slough, 
Buckinghamshire, is the principal breeder and exhibitor 
of Middlesex. Captain Gunter used to show it before he 
settled permanently in Yorkshire. 

"The Nottinghamshire Breed, whatever that may be, 
has won one prize in Baker-street, and the Warwickshire 
crossed with Neapolitan two, many years ago. 



FANCY BREEDS. 



" By fancy breeds, I mean pigs named after a person or 
a place. The prizes awarded to pigs at the Smithfield 
Club Shows are a very good evidence that the breed, if a 



96 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

breed, had good feeding qualities, although it may not 
have been suited for the ordinary work and treatment of 
a farm. Cross-bred animals have had the greatest suc- 
cess. Pure Essex and Berkshire, and large Yorkshires, 
have not met as much success as at breeding stock shows. 
The most successful animals at Smithfield have been cross- 
bred. The prize- winning white pigs, under whatever 
name, have all had a large dash of Cumberland- York- 
Leicester; the black pigs, of Neapolitan-Essex. 

" Among the most successful exhibitors at the Smithfield 
Club Shows, has been H.R.H., the Prince Consort, with 
what has lately been called the Windsor breed. 

" This is a white pig, the result, apparently, of many 
crosses, the prevailing blood being small York-Cumber- 
land. Thus, H.R.H. won, according to printed prize-list, 
in 

1846, Avith Bedford shires. 

1847, " Bedfordshire and Yorks. 

1848, " Suffolks. 

1849, " Suffolks. 

1850, " Yorkshires. 

1851, " Bedfordshire and Suffolks. 

1852, " Suffolks. 

(These were, all but one, second prizes.) 

1853, " Suffolks. 

(First prize and gold medal for best pen of pigs in 
any class.) 

1854, « Windsors. 

" And since that time only the breed has been called 
"Windsors. His Royal Highness took a first prize in small 
boars at Warwick with his Windsor breed, and a com- 
mendation for a Berkshire sow. 

"It is a tribe greatly in demand among gentlemen pig- 
breeders, and crosses admirably with strong county sows. 

" The CoLESHiLL is a white pig, closely connected with 



i 



THE MODEElSr ENGLISH BREEDS OF PIGS. 97 

the York-Cumberlands bred at Coleshiil, by the Earl of 
Radnor, who had stock from Earl Diicie, who had stock 
from Mr. Wyley, of Bransby, Yorkshire, and Mr. Brown, 
of Cumberland, for more than twenty years. The Coles- 
hills, between 1847 and 1850, had great success at the 
Smithlield Ckib Shows ; since that time, they seem to 
have somewhat lost their reputation, and twoof my York- 
shire correspondents describe them as ' toys.' ' At one 
time they were of a good size, but they have by no means 
maintained the even character that would entitle them to 
the name of a breed." When any of Lord Radnor's stock 
pass into other hands in England, the produce generally 
ceases to be called Colesbills. They become SufFolks, 
Yorkshires, Middlesex, according to the fancy of the 
breeder. They are esteemed, and much better known 
among the fashionable pig-breeders in France than in 
England, and there their opponents term them ' drawing- 
room pigs ' — (cochons de salon). The Colesbills carried 
off first prizes and gold medals at the Smithfield Shows 
in 1846 and 1817, and second prizes in 1814, 1845, 1847, 
and 1850. 

" The BusHET Breed are white, bred by the wealthy 
banker, Mr. Majoribanks, and were long called York- 
shires, and have recently been named after their place of 
birth. They have no distinctive character to distinguish 
them from their competitors. 

" The Buckinghamshire took the first Smithfield prize 
in 1840, but in tliese and many other names it is difficult 
to find any distinctive character." 

" This is additional evidence, if any were needed, that 
the most successful prize-winners resort to crossing. The 
whole system of awarding prizes to pigs needs a thorough 
revision. As it now stands, it is simply a means of ena- 
bling breeders to sell highly fed, cross-bred " toys " at 
high prices. The " Prince Albert Suffolks," which we now 
5 



98 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

learn are nothing but high-bred grades, have been intro- 
duced into the United States. Perhaps the writer has 
less cause than he supposed, to regret that one which he 
kept until four years old, finally found her way to the 
pork barrel without ever breeding a single pig." 



CHAPTER XI. 

BPwEEDS OF PIGS IN THE UNITED STATES. 

"We have no " native " American pig. Our stock origin- 
ally came from Europe, and principally from Great 
Britain. And it is highly probable that the largest and 
best specimens of the j^eriad were brought over by the 
colonists ; and as improvements were afterwards effected 
in England, good animals of the improved breeds were 
imported. 

Attempts have also been made to improve our pigs by 
using Chinese boars and their crosses ; and there can be 
no doubt that individual breeders in this way succeeded 
in effecting a great improvement in the early maturity and 
fattening qualities of their stock. But although these 
attempts attracted considerable attention at the time, the 
pigs so obtained were never generally popular. They 
were too small and delicate for the prevailing taste of the 
period. 

In 1832, the Improved Berkshires were introduced into 
the United States, and soon attracted the attention they 
so well deserved. In the course of half a dozen years, 
they were introduced into nearly every State in the 
Union. Breeders became excited. The agricultural pa- 
pers were filled with communications extolling the merits 
of the Berkshires — and after a careful perusal of these 



BREEDS OF PIGS IN THE UNITED STATES. 99 

articles at this time, we find that the statements were not 
as highly colored as might liave been expected. As a 
rale, the pigs were quite as good as they were represented 
to be. It was hardly to be expected that breeders should 
say to intending piircliasers, " It is of no use for you to 
get a well-bred pig unless you are prepared to give it bet- 
ter treatment than you do the common sort." The trouble 
was not in the pigs, but in tlie farmers. Berkshires were 
fully as valuable as the breeders claimed, and yet a great 
and wide-spread disappointment soon manifested itself. 
For a time the supply was not equal to the demand, and 
doubtless hundreds of pigs were sold as " pure Berk- 
shires " that were nothing but grades. But the general 
complaint was that the'^Berkshires were not large enough. 
The advocates of the breed met this complaint by state- 
ments of weights, giving many instances where the Berk 
shires and their grades dressed 400 lbs. at a year old, and 
that at 18 or 20 months old, they could be made to weigh 
500 or 550 lbs., dressed. One of the prominent breeders 
stated that he had a thorough-bred Berkshire that gained 
496 lbs. in 166 days, and when killed, dressed 626 lbs. 

To meet the demand for large pigs, fresh importations 
were made of the largest Berkshires that could be found 
in England. One boar, " Windsor Castle," imported in 
1841, by Mr. A. B. Allen, it was claimed would weigh, at 
two years old, when in good flesh, 800 lbs. At the same 
time, Mr. Allen deprecated the prevailing taste for such 
large hogs, and very justly argued that smaller pigs, with 
less offiil, would mature earlier and fatten more rapidly on 
a given amount of food. But then, as now, the demand 
was for the largest pigs that could be found, and it is said 
that this very boar was afterwards sold to a gentleman in 
Ohio for one thousand dollars. 

But the excitement soon began to abate. Farmers who 
had paid 150, $100, and, in one instance we have met with, 
1250 for a single pair of Berkshires, found that their 



100 HARRIS ON^ THE PIG. 

neighbors did not like the looks of the new comers. 
Ordinary pigs were selling at from $1 to |3 per cwt,, and 
few could be persuaded to pay even $10 for a pair of 
thorough-bred s. Thus ended the Berkshire excitement. 
The reaction was so great, that for years afterwards there 
were farmers w^ho would not have received as a gift the 
best Berkshire in the world. And to this day, thous- 
ands who do not know a Berkshire pig when they see it, 
have a very decided prejudice against the breed. 

A few years later, the Suifolks were introduced by the 
Messrs. Isaac & Josiah Stickney, of Boston. These gen- 
tlemen unquestionably procured the best specimens of the 
breed that could be purchased in England, and they bred 
them with great care and skill. Other importations were 
made, and the Suifolks have probably been more exten- 
sively diffused throughout the New England, Middle, and 
Western States than any other improved English breed. 

About the same time, the Improved Essex were intro- 
duced, but, being entirely black, they never became popu- 
lar in the Northern States. They are principally in the 
hands of our large stock breeders, and other gentlemen of 
wealth, but are rarely found on ordinary farms. Being 
in the hands of men knowing the value of pedigree, 
they are probably, to-day, as ''' 2?ure-bred " pigs as can be 
found in the United States or in England. 

The large Yorkshires were introduced soon after the 
breed became noted in England, and importations have 
been made from time to time. But no special efforts have 
been made to create an excitement in regard to this breed, 
and it has not been extensively diffused. The small York- 
shires, or Prince Albert Suffolks, were introduced about 
ten years ago, and, for a time, attracted considerable at- 
tention. But they are not favorites with the majority of 
farmers. 

The above comprise the principal English breeds that 
have attracted any special attention in this country, and 



BREEDS OF PIGS IN THE UNITED STATES. 101 

before alluding to breeds originating in the United States, 
it may be well to inquire v^hy these valuable English 
breeds have never been favorites with the generality of 
our farmers ? 

That these breeds are not now, and never have been 
popular, is unquestionably a fact. Except some kept by 
the writer, we do not know of a single thorough-bred 
Berkshire, Essex, Suffolk, or Yorkshire pig within ten 
miles, and it is doubtful whether there are any in the 
county, although they have been repeatedly introduced. 
As a general rule, these thorough-bred pigs are kept only 
by persons who raise them to sell for breeding purposes. 
They are not kept for the sole object of making pork. 
For the latter purpose they are seldom as profitable as the 
offspring of a good common sow and a thorough-bred boar. 

The handsomest pigs we have ever seen were so ob- 
tained; and one would think that farmers, seeing such a 
result, would continue to use thorough-bred boars. But 
such is seldom the case. They prefer to use one of these 
large handsome grades, rather than the smaller and more 
refined thorough-breds, and in this way the beneficial in- 
fluence of the improved blood is soon lost. 

We think this is the principal reason why these highly- 
refined English breeds are not favorites with ordinary 
farmers. Their real value consists in their perfection of 
form, smallness of bone and offal, and the great develop- 
ment of the ham, shoulder, cheeks, and other valuable 
parts ; and added to this is their ability to transmit these 
qualities to their offspring. This ability is in proportion 
to their purity, and hence the value of pedigree. When 
one of these pure-bred boars is put to a good grade or 
common sow, we get precisely what we want — pigs hav- 
inor the form, the refinement, the early maturitv, smallness 
of offal, and tendency to fatten of the tliorough-bred, 
combined with the vigor, constitution, appetite, and great 
digestive powers of the larger and coarser sow. In other 



102 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

words, as far as tlie production of pork is concerned, we 
get a perfect pig — and there the improvement ends. We 
have attained our object, and all that we have to do is to 
repeat the process. To select boars from these grade pigs, 
and to use tliom in liopes of getting something better, is 
mere folly. It can lead to nothing but disappointment. 
And yet this is the common practice of those who are, 
once in a while, induced to try the thorough-breds. They 
soon find themselves possessed of a stock of non-descript 
pigs, none of them equal to the first cross, and some of 
them inferior to the sow first put to the thorough-bred 
boar. Then we hear complaints of the " degeneracy" 
of the improved breeds, when, in point of f ict, no sensi- 
ble man could expect any other result. Another cause 
of the unpopularity of the thorough-bred English pigs is, 
the wretched treatment to which they are often subjected. 
When we first commenced keeping thorough-bred pigs, a 
farmer of the neighborhood who, some years before, had 
paid a high price for a pair of Suffolk pigs, and who failed 
to raise a single thorough-bred pig from* them, remarked, 
" You will soon get tired of this business. I have tried 
it. They won't breed. You are keeping them too fat. 
The only way to treat them is to turn them to a straw 
stack, and let them live on that." Tlie fact that lie never 
raised a pig from his sow did not commend his treatment, 
and w^e continued feeding our pigs sufiicient food to keep 
them growing rapidly, and have had no cause to regret it. 
The only sow that has ever failed to breed with us was a 
Prince Albert Suffolk, purchased in the neighborhood 
from a farmer who had probably tried the " straw-stack " 
mode of feeding. 

The aim of a good breeder of pigs is to get a breed 
that will grow rapidly and mature early. And the better 
the breed, the more rapidly will they grow. But the best 
stove in the world cannot give out heat without a supply 
of fuel ; neither can the best-bred pig in the world grow 



BREEDS OF PIGS IN THE UNITED STATES. 103 

rapidly without food ; and the more thoroughly the 
power to grow rapidly has become established by long 
and careful breeding, the less ca[)able does the pig be- 
come to stand starvation. It may sometimes be necessary 
to starve a pig for a short time when it has become too 
fat. In this case the pig gets food from its own fat and 
flesh, and sustains no permanent injury. But to starve a 
young, growing pig, is always injurious — and the more 
rapidly the pig is designed to grow, the more detrimental 
and permanent will be the effects of such treatment. The 
handsomest lot of white pigs we have ever raised, were 
from a sow got by a thorough-bred Earl of Sefton (York- 
shire) boar. She was a very large sow, and not coarse for 
her size, Tliis sow we put to a thorough-bred highly re- 
fined Prince Albert Suffolk, and had a litter of " beauties." 
There was not a poor pig among them, and they were so 
imiformthatit was difficult to tell one from another. The 
sow had been liberally fed, and at the time of pigging 
was very fat, and we continued to feed her and the little 
ones all they would eat. The result was a lot of pigs 
that we have never seen excelled. Encouraged by this 
result, we purchased from a neighbor, at an extra price, 
a litter of pigs got by the same thorough-bred boar, and 
at the saine time another litter of common pigs from an- 
other neighbor. Both litters ran together, and liad the 
same food and treatment, and the common pigs did better 
than the grade SuffolJcs. 

Tiie grade Suffolks were, in fact, decidedly poor pigs — 
a very different lot from the pigs from our own sow, got 
by the same boar. One cause of the difference must 
probably be assigned to the fact that the sow was not as 
large or as good as ours, and was not as well fed. And 
another reason for the difference was, the pigs^ for the first 
tv}0 months^ had not had all the food they were capable 
of eating. They never recovered from this neglect, and 
the common pigs were a stronger, more vigorous and 



104 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

healthier lot, and ultimately made much the heaviest 
pork. If we had had no other experience than tliis, we 
should certainly condemn thorough-bred pigs. But we 
k/iow that the fault was not in the breed, but in the treat- 
ment which the sow and her young litter had received. 
Common pigs are better than improved pigs that have 
been injured, while young, by neglect and starvation, 
but the improved pigs, if the mother has been liberally 
fed, and they themselves are allowed as much food as 
they require to grow rapidly, will be found altogether su- 
perior to the common pigs, and vastly more profitable. 

To say that, up to the time they shut them up to fat- 
ten, the majority of farmers half starve their pigs, will 
not be considered too strong an assertion by any one wlio 
has turned his attention to the subject. And this being 
the case, it is very evident that the improved English 
breeds cannot be pojmlar — and the same is true of all 
other improved bree<ls of animals. We must adopt a 
better system of farming before we can hope to see the 
improved breeds of cattle, sheep, and pigs generally in- 
troduced and fully appreciated. Improved breeds necessi- 
tate improved farming, and improved farming cannot be 
very profitable without improved breeds, improved seeds, 
and improved implements. To tell a poor farmer that "it 
is just as easy to raise a good animal as a poor one," is 
telling him what, in his case, is not true. If he 
thinks he can do so merely by buying one or two im- 
proved animals to start with, he will soon find out his 
mistake. He should first improve his farm, and adopt a 
better system of feeding and management, and the)i he 
will find it nearly as easy to raise good animals as poor 
ones, and vastly more profitable. 



We are now prepared to consider the breeds of pigs 
which are most popular in the United States, and may be 
able to discover the cause of their popularity. 



BREEDS OF PIGS IN THE UNITED STATES. 



105 



ciiESTEK COUNTY. AviiiTE PIGS. (Figure 27.) 

The most poj^ular and extensively known breed of pigs 
in the United States at this time is, unquestionably, the 
Chester County breed, or, as they are generally called, the 
"Chester Whites." The rearing and shipping of these 
pigs has become a very large and profitable business. 
One firm alone in Chester Co., Penn., informs us that, lor 
the last three or four years, they have shij^ped from 2,500 
to 2,900 of these pigs each year, and many other breed- 
ers have also distributed large numbers of them. 

There are several reasons why the Chester Whites are 




Fig. 27.— CHESTER COUNTY WHITE. 



more popular than the English breeds. In the first place, 
they are a large, rather coarse, hardy breed, of good con- 
stitution, and well adapted to the syf^tem of manao:ement 
ordinarily adopted by the majority of our farmers. They 
are a capital sort of common swhie^ and it is certainly for- 
tunate that they have been so extensively introduced into 
nearly all sections of the country. Wherever Chester 
Whites have been introduced, there will be found sows 
5* 



106 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

admiraLly suited to cross with the refined English breeds. 
No cross could be better than a Chester White sow and 
an Essex, Berkshire, or Small Yorkshire thorough-bred 
boar. We get the form, refinement, early maturity, and 
fattening qualities of the latter, combined with the strong 
digestive powers, hardiness, and vigorous growth of the 
Chester Whites. If the first cross does not give pigs 
possessing sufiicient refinement and early maturity, a 
good, thrifty, well-formed sow should be selected from the 
litter and put to a thorough-bred boar, and this second 
cross will, so far as our experience goes, be as refined as 
is desirable for ordinary farm pigs. When the pigs are 
to be killed at four or five months old for fresh j^ork, a 
sow may be selected from this second cross, and again put 
to a thorough-bred boar. This is probably as far as it is 
desirable to carry the refining process. The pigs from 
this third cross would have 87* 1^ per cent of thorough- 
bred blood in them, and so far as the production of pork 
is concerned, would be more profitable than the thorough- 
breds. 

We think this is the proper use to make of the Chester 
White pigs. They have many excellent qualities. They 
are large, hardy, strong, vigorous, have good constitu- 
tions, breed well, and are good mothers. Whether, as a 
breed, they are thoroiighly established^ is rather doubtful. 
There are probably families among them that liave been 
bred long enough to permanently establish their good 
qualities. But it is certain that many Chester Whites 
have been sent out that produce litters, the pigs of which 
differ from each other as widely as the litters of common 
sows — and far more widely than the litter of a common 
sow put to a thorough-bred boar. 

Paschall Morris, of Philadelphia, who has bred Chester 
Whites for many years, and who is thoroughly acquaint- 
ed with the breed, describes them as follows: "They are 
generally recognized now as the best breed in this coun- 



BREEDS OF PIGS IN THE UNITED STATES. 107 

try, coming fully up to the requirements of a farmer's 
hog, and are rapidly superseding Sufiblks, Berkshires, and 
other smaller breeds. 

"The best specimens maybe described as long and deep 
in the carcass, broad and straiglit on the back, short in 
the leg, full in the ham, fall shoulder, well packed for- 
ward, admitting of no neck, very small proportionate 
head, short nose, dish face, broad between the eyes, moder- 
ate ear, thin skin, straight hair, a capacity for great size 
and to gain a pound per day until they are two years old. 
Add to tliese, quiet habits, and an easy taking on of fat, so 
as to admit of being slaughtered at almost any age, and 
we have, what is considered in Chester County, a careful- 
ly bred animal, and what is known elsewhere as a fine 
specimen of a breed called ' Chester County White.' 
They have reached weights of from 600 to 900 lbs. 

"We have recently heard of a case where a farmer in the 
West had purchased some pigs from Chester County, and 
wrote back that part of them were full-blood, part half- 
blood, and part no Chesters at all. We know of another 
case where a purchaser insisted that a pig from Chester 
County was half Suffolk. 

"There is considerable misapprehension about the Ches- 
ter County breed, so-called. It is constantly forgotten 
that it is not an original, but a made up breed. They 
differ from each other quite as much as any one known 
breed differs from another. We have often seen them,— 
and the offspring, too, of good animals,— with long noses, 
which would root up an acre of ground in a very short 
time, slab-sided, long-legged, uneasy, restless feeders, re- 
sembling somewhat the so-called race-horse breed at the 
South, that will keep up with a horse all day on ordinary 
travel, and that will go over a fence instead of taking 
much trouble to go through it. They show more develop- 
ment of head than ham, and as many bristles as hair, and 
are as undesirable a hog as can well be [ticked up. Any 




108 HAEEIS OX THE PIG. 

traveler through Chester County can see such specimens 
continually. The standard of excellence in all animals, 
no matter how high or how pure may be the breed, so- 
called, is only to be hept up by judicious care in feeding^ 
breeding and management. If either is neglected, they 
are sure to run out, and go down hill. With swine most 
especially, ' the breed is said to be in the trough.' 

" When persons speak, therefore, of a pure Chester hog, 
or a half-blood, or a quarter-blood, ^ve consider it only 
absurd. There is no such thing. By an original breed is 
meant, one that has been long established, and of which 
there are peculiar marks and qualities by which it has 
been long known, and which can be carried down by 
propagation. Such is the Devon cow and the South- 
down sheep. The difference in results between an original 
and a recently made up breed may be compared to that 
between a seedling and grafted variety of fruit. If the 
seed of a very fine pear or apple is planted, there is no 
certainty, perhaps no probability, that the fruit will be 
the same as the parent. A graft of the parent tree, how- 
ever, always produces the same. The results of the other 
are accidental. The law of breeding domestic animals, 
that ' like produces like,' applies more certainly to dis- 
tinct and original breeds, like Devons or Southdowns, 
than to a made up breed of recent origin, like the Chester 
County hog. The owner of a very fine animal, who, for 
several years, has been selecting his stock carefully, and 
feeding them liberally, has the chances greatly in his favor 
that ' like will produce like,' but there are very often to 
be seen very poor specimens from good parentage, and 
also very good individual animals from very inferior pa- 
rents. We have one now which, at a year old, will not 
weigh over 250 lbs. ; she is the offspring of large and 
well-shaped parents. In adjoining pens are others which, 
at the snme age, will weigh about 400 lbs. The hair, 
sometimes, is straight, at others, waved ^or curly. Tho 



BREEDS OF PIGS IN THE UNITED STATES. 109 

ear is often small and erect, then again large, thick, and 
lopped, like that of an elephant. Blue spots often appear 
on the skin, and sometimes black spots on the hair. These 
and other great variations, in external form and other 
qualities show that the Chester County pig represents his 
individual self\ and is not a type of a well established 
breed. 

"In the best specimens there are, however, a contribu- 
tion of more valuable points than belong to any other. 
As Ellman and Webb and Bakewell did with sheep, and 
with a far less favorable starting point, it is hoped some 
one may be found to take up the Chester County hoo;, 
and, by a persevering course of careful selections, breed 
him up to a still higher standard, and give him a more 
definite type and character. 

"Any one can do this for himself, but the constant varia- 
tions in their appearance would seem to show that it has 
not yet been done by any one. An impure Southclo\vn 
lamb cannot be produced from a full-bred dam and sire; 
and yet a misshapen and ill-shaped pig is sometimes pro- 
duced from what are called ' pure Chesters.' " 

Coming from a distinguished advocate and breeder of 
Chester County pigs, this statement is as candid as it is 
explicit. We may take it for granted that the Chester 
Whites are not an established breed, like the Berkshires 
or Essex. They will not breed true. This would not be 
so very objectionable in itself, but it follows that, when 
we wish to improve our common stock, we should not re- 
sort to a Chester County boar. It is an axiom in breed- 
insc that we should use nothins; but thoroug^h-bred males. 
Chester County sows^ when judiciously selected, are far 
superior to our ordinary run of pigs, and this breed will 
long continue valuable for the purpose of furnishing good 
breeding: sows to cross with some ccood thoroug-h-bred 
boar of the English breeds. 

And it may be, as Mr. Morris suggests, that we shall 



110 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

be able to so improve the Chester County pigs by such 
" a persevering course of careful selections," as to give 
the breed a better and " more definite type and character," 
and to so thoroughly establish these characters, that we 
may use the boars with a reasonable prospect of improv- 
ing any common breed with which they are crossed. Until 
this is done, however, it will be a mistake to use Chester 
County boars, except for the purpose of ohtalning large, 
vigorous sows, to be crossed with some thoroughly estab- 
lished breed. 

The " Hog Breeders' Manual," a little work published 
in the interest of Chester Country pigs, says : " The 
Chester and Suffolk make a very fine cross. If a new 
breed could be made by crossing these two breeds, and 
continuing, and the offspring were a uniform mixture of 
the two, I should consider it the maximum of perfection." 

In other words, the Chester Whites are too coarse, and 
need to be refined by crossing with some of the thorough- 
bred English breeds. This is undoubtedly true ; and 
coming from a prominent breeder of Chester Whites, may 
be regarded as decisive on tliis point. But why should a 
farmer wish for a " new breed" when, by using a thor- 
ough-bred Sufiblk boar on a Chester White sow, he can 
attain at one step the " maximum of perfection ?" True, 
he cannot breed from these perfect pigs. He cannot hope 
to make them " more perfect ;" but, by continuing to use 
thorough-bred boars, he is always sure of obtaining good 
pigs. Wliat more is needed ? We think it would be a 
mistake if the Chester White breeders should refine their 
pigs too much. The chief value of the breed consists in 
its size and vigor, and in furnishing strong, liealthy sows, 
to be crossed with thorough-bred boars of a refined breed. 
There is no object to be gained by refining, or, in other 
words, reducing the size and vigor, of the Chester Whites. 



BREEDS OF PIGS IN THE UNITED STATES. 



Ill 



THE " CHESHIRE," OR JEFFERSON COUNTY PIGS. (Fig. 28.) 

This is a breed of pigs originating in Jefferson County, 
N. Y. For a dozen years or more they have been exliibit- 
ed at the Fairs of the N. Y. State Agricultural Society, 
and for the last six or seven years have carried off nearly 
all the prizes offered for pigs of the large breed. They 
were first exhibited, to the best of our recollection, under 
the names of " Clieshire and Yorkshire," and afterwards 
as " Improved Cliesliires," and in 1868, one of the largest 
breeders exhibited them as "Improved Yorkshires." 



""-^■^413^'%: 




Fig. 28. — JEFFERSON COUNTY PIG. 

These different names, in different years, indicate the nature 
of the breed. They have been very extensively distrib- 
uted throughout the country, and especially in the West, 
under the name of " Cheshires." It would be better, we 
think, to call them the " Jefferson County " pigs, as in- 
dicating the place rather than the nature of their origin. 
The latter is uncertain, while there can be no doubt that 
Jefferson County is entitled to the credit of establishing a 
very popular and valuable breed of pigs. 

The old Cheshire pig was one of the largest and coarsest 
breeds in England, but Sidney says " these unprofitable 



112 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

giants are now almost extinct." A Cheshire (England) 
correspondent of this author writes, under date March 17, 
18G0, as follows: "The old gigantic, long-legged, long- 
eared pig, of a large patched black and white color, is all 
but extinct. My son met with a fine specimen last year 
in a sow which he brought to breed Avith our boar of the 
Berkshire small breed, but changed his mind and fed her. 
She showed no propensity for fattening at two years old. 
She weighed, when killed, 42 score, 12 lbs. — 852 lbs ; 
but as 3'|^ d. per pound was the best we could get for 
her, we took her for the family, and the meat was surpris- 
ingly good. She was lean fleshed. The hams weighed 
77 lbs each." 

It is said that a large sow of the old Cheshire breed 
was taken from Albany to Jefferson County, and about 
the same time some thorouo-h-bred Yorkshires were intro- 
duced into the same neighborhood from England. We 
have not been able to definitely establish the fact, but it 
is highly j^robable that the pigs whicli were first exhibited 
at the N. Y. State Fair as " Cheshire and Yorkshire " 
were from Yorksliire boars, crossed with the descendants 
of this sow. The pigs, as we recollect them wlien first 
exhibited, were very large, rather coarse, but well shaped. 
Since then, they have, from year to year, approximated 
more closely to tlie Yorkshires. They are still large, but 
have finer bones and ears. The best specimens, as sliown 
by the leading breeders, are as handsome pigs as can be 
desired. Color, white ; small, fine ears, short snout, with 
a well-developed cheek ; long and square bodied ; good 
shoulders and hams, and very small bones for such large 
hogs. 

As compared with the Chester County breed, they are 
nearly or quite as large, have finer bones, ears, and snout, 
and are altogether superior in form, beauty, and refine- 
ment to any Chester Whites we have ever happened to 
see. They have doubtless obtained this refinement from 



BREEDS OF PIGS IN THE UNITED STATES. 113 

the Yorkshires. The leading breeders in Jefferson County 
admit very freely that the breed is of mixed origin, but 
it is claimed that they have been kept pure sufficiently 
long to thoroughly establish the breed. We believe that 
this, at any rate, has been the aim of some of the breed- 
ers. When thoroughly established, the breed will occupy 
a similar position to pure-bred large Yorkshires. The 
boars will be useful to cross with coarse Chester White 
sows, where larger hogs are desired than can be obtained 
by using Berkshire, Essex, or Suffolk boars. 

THE MAGIE (OHIo) PIGS. 

The Hon. John M. Millikin, in his Prize Essay on the 
Agriculture of Butler County, Ohio, gives an account of 
a large breed of pigs which have obtained considerable 
celebrity in some parts of the West. He says : 

" N'o county in the United States, of equal area, has 
produced so many hogs of a superior quality as the county 
of Butler. The breed which is so highly esteemed by our 
farmers is the result of careful and judicious breeding, 
conducted by our best breeders in this county, and the 
adjoining county of Warren, for the last forty years. 

"The precise history of the method adopted to produce 
this popular breed of hogs cannot be given as fully and 
as reliably as its present value and importance demand. 
The best information, of a reliable character, which can 
be obtained, gives us to understand that as early as about 
1820, some hogs of an improved breed were obtained and 
crossed upon the then prevailing stock of the county. 
Among the supposed improved breeds of hogs, there were 
the Poland and Byefield. They are represented as being 
exceedingly large hogs, of great length, coarse bone, and 
deficient in fattening qualities. Subsequently more de- 
sirable qualities were sought for, and the stock produced 
by the crosses with Poland, Byefield, and other breeds, 



114 HARRIS ox THE PIG. 

underwent very valuable modifications by being bred 
with an esteemed breed of hogs then becoming known, 
and which were called the Big China. They possessed 
important qualities in which the other breeds were sadly 
deficient. At a later j^eriod, Mr. Wm. Nefi*, of Cincin- 
nati, an extensive pork packer, and fond of fine cattle and 
hogs, made some importations of fine stock from England. 
Among them were some Irish Graziers. They w^ere white 
in color, of fair size, fine in the bone, and possessing ad- 
mirable fattening qualities. Berkshires, about the same 
time, were attracting much attention, and both breeds 
were freely crossed with the then existing stock of the 
county. The result of these crosses was highly advanta- 
geous in the fomiation of a hog of the most desirable quali- 
ties. The Berkshires had obtained, with many breedei:s, 
great favor, while others objected to them, because they 
thought them too short, and too thick in the shoulder. 
Nevertheless the Berkshire blood w^as liberally infused 
into our stock of hogs, but in such a judicious manner, as 
to obviate the objections urged against them, and to se- 
cure their conceded good qualities. 

" Since the formation period of our breed of hogs, as 
above stated, there have been no material or decided in- 
novation upon the breed thus obtained. Our breeders 
have carefully selected and judiciously bred from the best 
animals thus produced among us. Where defective points 
have been apparent, they have been clianged by careful 
breeding. There has been, for many years, no admixture 
of any other breed of hogs. Our own breed is now, and 
has been for nearly thirty years, the stock predominant in 
this county. Our breeders believe that they have a well 
established hreed of hogs, which is unsurpassed in the 
most desirable qualities of a good hog. This breed of 
hogs, although of recent origin, may be regarded as thor- 
oughly and permanently established. They have been 
bred so long, and w^ith such judgment and uniform sue- 



BREEDS OF PIGS IN THE UNITED STATES. 115 

cess, that they may be confidently relied upon as possess- 
ing such an identity and fixity of character as a distiuct 
breed, as to give assurance that they will certainly and 
unmistakably propagate and extend their good qualities. 

" They can scarcely be said to have a well-established, 
distinctive name. They are extensively known as tlie 
'Magie stock.' They are sometimes called the ' Gregory 
Creek hogs,' but more generally they are known as the 
* Butler County stock.' It will be doing no one injustice 
to say that D. M. Magie has bred these hogs as extensive- 
ly and judiciously as any other man in the county. He 
has not only bred them for his own use, but also to sup- 
ply the extensive demand that has been made upon him 
from all parts of the West and North-west. 

"While we claim that Butler County has more good 
hogs than any other county in the State, we do not desire 
to do our neighbors any injustice by approj^riating all the 
credit for this breed of hogs to ourselves. Warren County 
assisted in the formation and establishment of this breed 
of hogs. They continue to raise them in their purity and 
full perfection, and take into the market as fine lots of 
hogs as have ever been raised and sold. 

" In verification of what we claim, we propose to show 
the averages of hogs sold and delivered to packers — not 
isolated cases, nor single specimen hogs, but the lots of 
hogs raised by our farmers, and sold in the market. These 
hogs are usually wintered over one winter, and are sold 
at ages ranging from eighteen to twenty-one months. 
Mr. David M. Mas-ie has made the following: sales : 
One lot of 63 Hosrs Avcra2;e weiirbt 444 lbs. 



40 


'-^^ft'^ 


^a.,^iii._,^ 


" ^'■n-^'- • • • 


417 " 


80 






403 ' 


fiO 






400 ' 


7^^. 






413 ' 


100 






408 ' 


4o 






407 ' 


?.o 






451 ' 


120 






458 ' 



116 HAERIS ON THE PIG. 

Thomas L. Reeves sold 39 head, ll}-^ months old, averaging 459 lbs. 
Jcreuiiah Beuty " 35 " " 438^ " 

L.jMiltenberycr " 35 " " 449 " 

Abraham Moore " 40 " " 4G6 " 

William Gallagcr » 71 " " 473 " 

" " the first 23 of same, " 528 " 

"These are individual lots, among many which have 
heen noticed as remarkable for their high average. Al- 
though they have never been equaled, so far as the pub- 
lic know, yet some may regard another kind of evidence 
as more conclusive. To such we submit the following 
facts, kindly furnished by Mr. Chenoweth, who, for many 
years, has weighed the hogs packed by Jones & Co., at 
Middletown, in this county. The hogs there packed are 
mainly furnished by citizens of this county, and Warren 
County. 

In the season of 1862-3, there were packed 4,956 hogs, averaging 305 lbs. 
" " 1863-4, " " 5,538 " "^ 276 " 

" " 1864-5, " " 5,370 " " 282 " 

" " 1865-6, " " 6,003 " " 345 " 

" " 1866-7, " " 5,013 " " 335 " 

In 1867-8, a dozen of the best lots averaged 459 lbs. 

" These figures," says Mr. Millikin, " must decide the 
superiority of our breed of hogs over all others. To pro- 
duce such averages, the stock must be of the best quality, 
and then care and judgment in breeding must be prac- 
ticed, and good attention given in raising and fattening." 

It is evident that the Butler County farmers know how 
to raise and fatten hogs. But it does not follow, from the 
figures given above, that there is necessarily any special 
merit in the Magie breed. We know farmers who take 
great pride in having heavy hogs, who make them weigh 
from 450 to 500 lbs. at 18 or 20 months old. And yet 
these very hogs are of such a kind, that no intelligent 
man, who is acquainted with the merits of the improved 
breeds and their grades, would tolerate on his farm for 
any other purpose except to cross with some highly re- 
fined thorough-bred boar. We are not acquainted with 



BREEDS OF PIGS IN THE UNITED STATES. 117 

the Magie hogs, and would not be understood as saying; 
that they are of this kind. They may be the best breed 
in the world, but the fact tliat the cretiit of the breed is 
awarded to the county, and not to individuals, does not 
indicate any special and decided characteristics. Breeds 
do not originate in this way. It is not to the farmers of 
Leicestershire that we owe the Leicester sheep, but to 
Robert Bakewell ; it is not to the farmers of Durham, but 
to tlie Messrs. Collins, that we owe the Durham or 
Shorthorn cattle. The farmers of Sussex are entitled to 
no credit for the Sussex or Southdown sheep. Ellman 
did more to improve these sheep than all tlie other Sussex 
farmers had accomplished in a thousand years. We owe 
the Essex hogs to Lord Western and Fisher Hobbs, and 
not to the farmers of the county — and so it ahvays is. 
The old Essex pig was one of the worst in England ; 
Fisher Hobbs made it one of the very best in the world. 



118 HAKRIS ON THE PIG. 

CHAPTER XII. 

EXPERIMENTS IN PIG FEEDING. 

Boussingault weighed a litter of five j^igs at the mo- 
ment of their birth. The smallest weighed 2M, lbs., and 
the largest 3^ I3 lbs., the average of the whole litter being 
2^ 1^ lbs. each. At the end of 36 days he weiglied them 
again, and they then averaged 17.3 lbs., showing a gain 
of nearly 3 lbs. each per week. During the next five 
weeks they gained 3^ \^ lbs. each per week. 

The quantity of food consumed was not ascertained. 

Dr. M. Miles, Professor of As^riculture in the Michig^an 
Agricultural College, has made some valuable experiments 
in feeding young pigs, in which the amount of food con- 
sumed and the gain each week were accurately ascertained. 

Six grade Essex pigs, two weeks old, were selected for 
the experiment. They weighed 25 lbs., or a little over 4 
lbs. each. At the end of the first week they weighed 46^ |, 
lbs., showing a gain of a little over 3^ l^ lbs. each, — a gain 
of about 90 per cent in one week. At the end of the 
second week they weighed 84 lbs. They were then di- 
vided into two separate pens, three in a pen. The pigs 
in pen A weighed 43^ 1^ lbs., and those in pen B 40^ 1^ lbs. 
At the end of the third week the three pigs in pen A 
weighed 52^ 1^ lbs. ; those in pen B, 54 lbs. At the end 
of the fourth week pen A weighed GG'I^ lbs.; pen B, 69' I, 
lbs. At the end of the fifth week pen A weighed 79 lbs. ; 
pen B, 85' 1^ lbs. Sixth week, pen A, 89' |^ lbs ; pen B, 
93' Libs. 

At this time one of the pigs in pen B met with an ac- 
cident and was killed. It weighed, alive, 30 lbs., and 
dressed, 23 lbs. 

To the end of the eighth week the pigs were allowed 
all the new milk they would drink, and what corn they 



EXPERIMENTS IN PIG FEEDING. 119 

would eat in addition. After tlie eighth week the milk was 
discontinued, and they were allowed all the corn-meal 
they would eat, mixed fresh with a little water. 

During the first week the pigs consumed about 23' |, 
lbs. each of milk, and gained 3' \^ lbs. each. 

Second week, they consumed 48 lbs. each of milk, and 
gained a little over 6 lbs. each. 

Third week, consumed 47 lbs. milk, and gained 3^ |^ lbs. 
each. 

Fourth week, consumed 52 lbs. milk, and gained 5 lbs. 
each. 

The amount of food consumed for each pound of live 
weight of the pigs was — 

l.s^ iveek. 2d loeek. Zd meek. Ath week. 

3.93 lbs. 4.42 lbs. 2.95 lbs. 2.57 lbs. 

The gain for each hundred pounds of live weight was — 

l.s^ week. 2d week. Zd toeek. 'Uh week. 

86.00 lbs. 80.64 lbs. 26.78 lbs. 27.69 lbs. 

The amount of food consumed to produce one pound 
of increase was — 

\8t vieek. 2d week. 2>d week. 4tth v^eek. 

6.53 lbs. 7.70 lb% 12.52 lbs. 10.56 lbs. 

These experiments, confirmed as they are by others giv- 
ing similar results, show conclusively that a young animal 
eats much more, in proportion to live weight, than an 
older one. Thus, for each pound of live weight, the pigs 
ate nearly 4 lbs. of milk the first week, and only 2^ 1^ lbs. 
the fourth week. It would also seem that the younger the 
animal, the more rapidly it gains in proportion to the food 
consumed. Thus, it required about 7 lbs. of milk the first 
fortnight to produce a jDOund of increase, and ll'l^ lbs. 
the second fortnight, or about 65 per cent more. 

So far, therefore, these results strikingly confirm the 
conclusion we should arrive at from theoretical considera- 
tions, that the more food an animal can eat, digest, and 



120 



HAREIS ON THE PIG. 



assimilate in proportion to its size, the more it will gain 
in proportion to the food consumed. 

During the second month, each pig ate, in pen A, 37 
lbs. of milk per week, and 1 lb. each of oats and corn, 
and gained 2.83 lbs. each per week. This also shows a 
great falling off in the consumption of food in proportion 
to live weight, and a still greater falling off in the rapidi- 
ty of increase in proportion to the food consumed. 

During the eighth week it required nearly double the 
amount of food to produce a pound of increase as during 
the fourth week. 

After the eighth week, as we have said, the pigs were 
fed exclusively on corn-meal. The following table shows 
the amount of food consumed by each pig per week, and 
the increased growth obtained from it. 







Increase in live 


[ 




Food consumed by each iiig 


weight of each 


Food required to jyro- 




lier iveek. 


■pig per week. 


duce 1 lb. oj increase. 




Pen A. 


Pen B. 


Pen A. 
1.70 lbs. 


Pen B. 
G.56 lbs. 


Pen A. \PenB. 


3tl month. 


8.00 Ibi.. 


24.50 lbs. 


4.08 lbs. I3.8I lbs. 


4th " 


13.75 '■ 


18.25 " |3.50 " 


4..50 "• 


3.92 " 14.06 " 


5th " 


16.00 " 


25.00 " [4.25 " 


5.03 " 


3. 82 " 


4.22 " 


6th " 


16.GG " 


25.87 " 


0.75 " 


4.02 " 


8.8S " 


5.24 " 


7th " . 


Meal. J 14.1G " 
Roots, j 5.00 " 


23.18 " 


2.04 " 


3.75 " 


(7.00 " 


5.98 " 








(2.42 " 




Avera'jfc of 


Meal.... 14.23 " 


23.30 " 


2.07 " 


5.14 lbs. 


Meal.. 5.32 " 


4.55 " 


5 months. 


Roots.. . 1.00 " 








lRoots.0.37 " 1 



It should be remembered that these pigs were all of 
one litter, and that in both pens they had the same food, 
(except that during the seventh month of the experiment 
the pigs in Pen A were allowed roots in addition to the 
corn meal) were fed at the same time, and in the same 
conditions, and both were allowed all tliey would eat, and 
yet the pigs in pen B ate 61 per cent more food than 
those in pen A, and gained over 9:2 per cent more. 

TVe cannot tell why one pig differs from another pig of 
the same litter. But, aside from this, it is not difficult to 
understand why pigs, that eat more food, should gain 
more in proportion to the food consumed. It is owing to 



EXPERIMENTS IN PIG FEEDING. 



121 



the fact that, in the case of the small eaters, nearly all the 
food is used merely to support the vital functions. In a 
j)revious chapter (page 21) ^ye have endeavored to ex- 
plain tliis matter in detail. 

One of the pigs in pen A gained nearly as much as 
those in pen B ; and had the pigs been fed separately, the 
result would doubtless have been even more strikingly in 
favor of the large eaters. 

The following table shows the weight of the pigs when 
six weeks old (the fourth week of the experiment), and 
for each month afterwards. 









r^ 


00 


=c 


?= 


CO 










^^ 


-i-i 


-is 


-i^ 


-i^ 


►5^ 


^ 






























S 


"to 


^ 


<a 


S 


■^ 










ll 


1- 






ll 


CO ""^ 


;3; • 















S-^ 


H^ 


e^ 


^-^ 


,0^ 


^^3 






.=^^ 


i^?^ 


-^^^ 


-^'c^S 


-^'^^ 


'S'o 


^'?? 










<5>>^ 


fe> 


&i 


.^ 


.^ 


t^ 


??1 


s 


s 






,^^--c 


.'ii 


36 


►■^ 


k^ 


1.^ 


k^ 


53 


e 




(Pisl 


H- S 


311/, 


42 


53 


^ 


1^ 


Cb 


^ 




21 


52 


59 


38 


271^. 


Pen A.^ "2 


23 


3314 


38 


491/, 


60 


64 


69 


46 


259^ 




( "3 


221/2 


3534 


47 


'~tm 


101 


1201/2 


133 


1101/3 


9714 



Pen 



B.-j u 



1231/2 48/2 80 1001/2 131 148/2 156}132i4|108i4 
123 44 64 791/2 96/2 II8/2 142|129 | 98 



At ten weeks old, the pigs were not allowed any more 
milk, but were allowed all the corn-meal they would eat. 
From this time, until they were 30 weeks old, a period of 
five months, pig 1 gained 27' 1^ lbs., pig 2, 35' |^ lbs., and 
pig 3, 97' 1^ lbs., all in the same pen. Taking the pens to- 
gether, we have shown that the pigs in pen A ate about 
S'l^ lbs. of food to produce 1 lb. of increase, while the 
pigs in pen B required only 4' \^ lbs. to produce the same 
result. But it is undoubtedly true that these figures do 
not show the whole advantage to be gained by having 
pigs that can eat and assimilate a large amount of food. 
Pig 3 probably ate much more than his proportion of the 
food, and gained even still more in proportion to the food 
consumed. Thanks to Professor Miles, we are not left 
■wholly to conjecture on this important point. 
6 



Findinaj 



122 HAERIS OX THE PIG. 

that pigs No. 1, and No. 2 had no tendency to lay on fat, 

and that they were iiicreasmg only in bone and muscle, 

he thought it desirable to ascertain the amount of food 

which each pig consumed; so, at the beginning of the 21st 

week of the experiment, the pigs were put in separate 

pens, and allowed, as before, all the food they would eat. 

During the first week afterwards, 

Pig 1 ate 11 lbs. meal. 
" 2 " 123^ " " 
" 3 " 2o}4 " " 

During the month the pigs ate and gained as follows : 

Pig 1 ate 483^ lbs. meal, and lost 1 lb. 
" 2 " 51}i " " " gained 4 lbs. 
" 3 " 100 " " " gained 19^ lbs. 

Pigs 1 and 2, together, ate precisely the same amount 
of food as pig 3 alone. But in the one case, the 100 lbs. 
of coin gave 19^| , lbs. of increase, and in the other only 
3 lbs. So much for a good appetite. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

LAWES AND GILBERT'S EXPERIMENTS IN PIG FEEDING. 

The most extensive experiments on fattening pigs are 
those made by J. B. Lawes, Esq., and Dr. J. H. Gilbert, 
at Rothamstead, near St. Albans, in England. These 
gentlemen have, for many years, devoted themselves to 
such investigations ; their experiments were conducted 
with the greatest care, and in the most thorough manner, 
and the results are worthy of entire confidence. Unfortu- 
nately, as it seems to us, the experiments Avere confined 
exclusively to pigs shut up to fatten ; and no particular 
attention was given to the breed, or the previous history 
of the pigs. The principal object of the experiments was 
to ascertain the best kinds of food for fattening pigs, and 
the best proportion of nitrogenous to non-nitrogenous food. 



LAWES' AND GILBERT'S EXPERIMENTS. 



123 



" In the selection of the animals," say Messrs. Lawes 
& Gilbert, " it was only sought to get such as resembled 
each other in character, age, and Aveight, in the several 
pens ; and, with this view, a competent person was cm- 
ployed to go to the various sties and markets in the 
neighborhood to purchase animals suited to our object. 

" Forty pigs were purchased, as nearly as possible of 
the same character, and all supposed to be about nine or 
ten months old. The pigs were weighed and marked, and 
thirty-six of them selected out, and divided into twelve 
lots, of three each, in such a manner as to give equal 
weights in each lot, but it was found that, in selecting 
them by weight alone, ' they did not secure animals of 
sufficiently equal feeding quality in the several pens.' On 
the following day, therefore, they were changed from pen 
to pen, so as to provide, as much as possible, a similarity 
in this respect between pen and pen, and, at the same 
time, to retain a near equality in weight also. This being 
done, the weights stood as follows : 



TABLE L-SHOWING THE WEIGHTS OF THE PIGS WHEN ALLOTTED 
TO THE PENS, FEB. 3, 1858. 


Nos. of the Pigs. 


1 
Pi 

146 
121 
112 


rn 

I 

3 

p-l 

146 
122 
112 

380 


% 

C 

Pi 

142 
11.5 
113 

370 


t 

<^ 

142 
123 
113 

378 


03 

I 

Ph 

140 
123 
115 

378 


m 

3 

fin 

133 
123 
122 

378 


I 

A*' 

P4 

133 
124 
121 

378 


32 

132 
1.33 
117 

382 


S 

130 
124 
119 

373 


7 

o 

T-H 

129 
128 
120 

377 


7 

T-l 

T-l 

3 

131 

128 
120 

379 


I 

1-1 

P4 


1 


130 


2 

3.'!".'.'.'.'.. 


115 
129 


Total weight of 3 Pigs. 


379 


374 



"The allotment thus completed, all the pigs were fed on 
a mixture of one part bean moal, one parfc lentil meal, 
two parts Indian corn-meal, and four parts bran— these 
being the foods fixed upon for the subsequent experiment. 
The ''pigs were allowed as much of this food as they 
would eat." " Upon this mixture," say the experimenters, 
" all were kept for twelve days, prior to commencing the 



124 



HARRIS ON THE TIG. 



exact experiment, in order that they might become accus- 
tomed to their new situation, and reconciled to their new 
companions, for, in the allotment, the various purchases 
had necessarily "been intermixed — in some cases, greatly 
to the disapprobation and discomfort of the individuals 
of those purchases. For a time, constant quarrels en- 
sued, and the molested animals frequently jumped from 
pen to pen, until they fell in with former associates. In- 
deed, at first, it was no uncommon occurrence, after they 
had been left for some time, to find some pens almost de- 
serted, and others crowded. The use of the whip was 
found to be very efficacious in settling these disputes, and 
at length, all seeming to live amicably together, the exact 
experiment was commenced on Feb. 14, twelve days after 
the first allotment." 

This account will prove interesting, and furnish valua- 
ble hints to such of our agricultural colleges as may 
contemplate making experiments on animals. It shows, 
furthermore, taken in connection with the weight of the 
pigs, that little attention had been paid to their breeding 
or management. They Avere, evidently, common store 
hogs, active, and quarrelsome, and the fact that, at from 
nine to ten months old, they only weighed 112 to 146 lbs., 
indicates that the farmers of England do not treat their 
pigs much better than the fai-mers of America. 

During this preliminary period of twelve days, the pigs 
gained as follows : 



TABLE II. 



-SHOWING THE GAIN OF EACH PIG DURING THE TWELVE 
DAYS OF THE PRELIMINARY PERIOD. 



Nos. of the Pigs. 



Total gain in each Pen 61 42 52!49l53l67 37l50 55'39l44 55 



I I 



Ph 



30 11121 31 28 24 
14 20 16 8 5 21 
ITjlljlS 10 20:22 



0. &H 



eu, pu, 



15 13 26 20 619 

2I1I 18 10 22 15 

20126 11 911621 



LAWES' AND GILBERT'S EXPERIMENTS. 



125 



During this period, of twelve days, the pigs were all 
fed on the same food, and were allowed all they chose 
to eat, and yet it will be seen that the gain is far from 
uniform. "Those pigs," say the experimenters, "having 
flourished most, which had fallen in for the lion's share, 
whilst the weaker ones, which had been obliged to sulk 
in the rear until their more powerful companions had in- 
dulged to the full, clearly indicated their misfortunes by 
their weights. After that time, however, very little ir- 
regularity occurred from this cause — vigilant care being 
taken that each animal should have his full share of food — 
and it soon happened that the mere approach of the 
whip, was sufficient to awe the pugnacious delinqueiit 
into humble retreat, while his weaker neighbor, in his 
turn, took precedence at the trough. These ill-tempers, 
though at first very troublesome, gave way surprisingly 
by a little perseverance, and the evil of them, in the 
course of comparative experiments is, after all, much less 
than in submitting to a faulty allotment." 

The experiment proper, commenced Feb. 14, and con- 

'tinued eight weeks. The following table shows the weight 

of each pig at the commencement of the experiment : 



TABLE III.-SHOWING THE WEIGHT OF EACH PIG AT THE COM- 
MENCEMENT OF THE EXPEPJMENT, FEB. 14. 



Nos. of the Pigs. 


to 

1 

135 
129 

440 


3 

157 
143 
123 

422 


7 

CO 

o 
tk 

103 
131 

128 

422 


173 
131 
123 

427 


I 

s 
Pi 

108 
128 
135 

431 


'A 

1 
o 

3 
P-i 

157 
144 
144 

445 


7 

3 
Ph 

148 
12() 
141 

415 


I 

a 
p-( 

145 
144 
143 

432 


I 

150 
142 
130 

428 


2 

T-l 

S3 
Pi 


aj 

7 

1-1 

Tl 

c 

Pi 


1 

2 

3 


149 137 

13S! 150 
129; 130 




Total weight of 3 Pigs. 


410 


4231 



i 



Pi 

149 
130 
150 

429 



The following table shows the weight of the pigs at the 
end of the experiment, after being fed eight weeks: 



12G 



HAKRIS ON THE PIG. 



TABLE IV.-SHOWING THE WEIGHT OF 


EACH PIG AT THE END OF 




THE EXPERIMENT. 




CO 








.a 






* 
£ 


3^ 


EC 

2 

T-l 


<£ 


I 

T-l 




1 


1 
at 


1 

CO 


i 


1 


i 


.1 


i 


1 

Ci 


J^ 


Nos. of the Pigs. 


01 

279 


1 
293 


1 
239 


298 


264 


263 


249 


287 


205 


1 

176 


c 
197 


3 
P-. 


1 


263 


2 


22!) 


237 


183 


lOS 


182 


230 


19] 243 


148 


182 


198 


175 


3 


235 


228 


200 


183 


206 


250 


284 


249 


175 


172 


206 


245 


Total weight of 3 Pigs. 


743 


758 


622 


679 


652 


743 


724 


779 


528 


530 


601 


683 



1 



The food selected for the experiment was a mixture — 
1st, bean and lentil meal ; 2d, Indian corn-meal, and 3d, 
bran. 

As beans and lentils are, at j^resent, little used as food 
for pigs in the United States, we shall not be far wrong 
in considering them as equivalent to peas. The object of 
the experiment was not merely to ascertain w^hich of these 
foods was most nutritious, but what is the best proportion 
of feeding tliem. Accordingly, each of the pens had an 
unlimited allowance of some one of these three classes of 
foods, some of them having no other food, except in the 
case of bran, while others were allowed a restricted 
quantity. Thus : 

Pen 1 — was allowed a mixture of equal parts of bean 
and lentil meal ad libiUim. 

Pen 2 — 2 lbs. per pig, per day, of Indian corn-meal, and 
bean and lentil mixture ad libitum. 

Pen 3 — 2 lbs. of bran per pig, per day, and bean and 
lentil mixture ad libitum. 

Pen 4 — 2 lbs. of Indian meal, 2 lbs. of bran per pig, per 
day, and bean and lentil mixture ad libitmn. 

Pen 5 — Indian corn-meal ad libitum. 

Pen 6^2 lbs. of bean and lentil mixture, and Indian 
meal ad libitum,. 

Pen 7 — 2 lbs. brnn, and Indian meal ad libitum. 

Pen 8 — 2 lbs. of bean and lentil mixture, 2 lbs. bran, 
and Indian meal ad libitum. 



LAWES' AND GILBERT'S EXPERIMENTS. 



127 



I 



Pen 9 — 2 lbs. of bean and lentil mixture per pig, per 
day, and bran ad libitum. 

Pen 10 — 2 lbs. of Indian meal per pig, per day, and 
bran ad libit utti. 

Pen 11 — 2 lbs. of bean and lentil, 2 lbs. of Indian meal 
per pig, per day, and bran ad libitum. 

Pen 12 — Bean and lentil mixture, Indian corn-meal, and 
bran, each separately, and ad libitum. 

The results ouo-ht to afford answers to the followino: 
questions : 

Are peas (bean and lentil) as good, or better, than In- 
dian corn, for fattening pigs ? 

Is it better to feed them alone, or mixed together, and 
in what proportions ? 

What is the value of bran as a food for fattening pigs, 
in conjunction with peas or Indian corn, or both ? 

When pigs are allowed all they will eat of peas, Indian 
corn, and bran, how much of each will tlioy eat, and in 
what proportions ? 

The following table shows the gain of each pig during 
the experimental period of eight weeks : 



TABLE v.— SHOWING THE GAIN OP EACH PIG DURING THE EXPERI- 
MENTAL PERIOD OF EIGHT WEEKS. 







CD 


1 


J 




1 






02 




CO 


03 








1 

T-l 


i 


1 


1 

CO 


1 


J. 


1 

C5 




1 

1-1 


1 
T-l 


Nos. of 


the Pigs. 


1 

103 




136 


76 


125 


9(5 


106 


101 


Ph 
142 


o 
49 


A. 

27 


60 


(3 


1 




114 


2 




94 


05 


52 


67 


54 


86 


65 


99 


6 


44 


48 


45 


3 




106 
303 


105 
336 


72 

200 


60 
252 


71 
221 


106 

298 


143 106 


45 


43 


70 

178 


95 






Total gain 


of 3 Pigs.... 


309 


347 


100 


114 


254 



The pigs making the greatest gain are those in pen 8, 
which had 2 lbs. of peas (beans and lentils), and 2 lbs. of 
bran each, per day, and all the Indian corn-meal they 
would eat in addition. These pigs gained 14' 1^ lbs. each, 
per week, or over 2 lbs. per day. The next best gain is 



128 



HARRIS OX THE PIG. 



in 



pen 2, with 2 lbs. of Indian meal each, per day, and 



all the pea meal they would eat. They gained exactly 
2 lbs. per day. 

With Indian meal alone, the pigs gained not quite 9'|^ 
lbs. each, per week. With Indian meal, and a small al- 
lowance (2 lbs. each, per day,) of peas, the gain is not 
quite 12' I2 lbs. per week; while with Indian meal, and 2 
lbs. each, per day, of bran, the gain is over 12^|^ lbs. j^er 
week. The most curious result, however, is in pen 12, 
where the j^igs had all they would eat of each of the three 
kinds of food. The gain is but a fraction over 10^ |„ lbs. 
each, per week. 

The following table shows the amount of food consumed 
by each pig, per week, and the average increase in live 
weiglit, j^er head, per week, during the experimental 
period of eight weeks : 

TABLE VI.— SHOWING THE AVERAGE WEEKLY CONSUMPTION OF 

FOOD, AND THE INCREASE, PER HEAD, DURING THE 

TOTAL PERIOD OF THE EXPERIMENT. 





DESCRIPTION AND AVERAGE QUANTITIES OF FOOD CONSUMED 


PER 


'S 




PIG, PER WEEK, IN LBS. 




S 
g 












e 






§f 


^# 


jS^ 






1 ^ 




"^ 






•^1 




S 






as 


^ 


'< 


Limited food. 


A d libiium food. 


^1 


^ 


1... 


None. 


63 lbs. bean and lentil meal. 


63 


12.62 


2.... 


14 lbs. Indian meal. 


52 '' V ^' '^ 


m 


14.00 


3.... 


14 lbs. bran. 


40'4" " '' " 


54ii 


8.33 


J:--- 


14 lbs. Indian meal, & 14 lbs. bran. 


3114" " " " 


59^2 
4.'ii.i 


10.50 


5.... 


None. 


4514 lbs. Indian meal. 


9.21 


6.... 


14 lbs. bean and lentil meal. 


4414 " " 


5SH 


12.42 


7... 


14 lbs. bran. 


44li " 


5.Sli 


12.87 


8.... 


14 lbs. bean and lentil meal, and ) 
14 lbs. bran. I 

lO'.i lbs. hean and lentil meal. 


36% " " 


64M 


14.46 


9.... 


IS lbs. bran. 


37M 


4.16 


10.... 


IflVi lbs. Indian meal. 


23>^ " " 


42^ 


4.75 


11 


14 lbs. bean and lentil meal, and ) 


IS 


40 


7.42 




14 lbs. Indian meal. ) 






•28H lbs. bean&lentil meal. ) 






12. ... 


None. 


•2512 lbs. Indian meal. V 
3 lbs. bran. ) 


57 


10.58 



LAWES' AND GILBERT'S EXPERIMENTS. 12d 

It is very evident that bran, fed in a large quantity, or 
with a small proportion of other food, is a very indiffer- 
ent food for pigs. It is too bulky ^ in proportion to the 
nutriment it contains. The pigs were weighed every two 
weeks, and it was so obvious after the first weighing, that 
the pigs in j^ens 9 and 10 were not getting food enough 
(though having all the bran they would eat), that the 
limited food was increased to 3 lbs. per pig, per day, in- 
stead of 2 lbs. But, even with this addition, it is clear 
that the j^igs did not get sufficient nutriment. Their 
stomachs were not capable of holding enough of this 
bulky, and probably rather indigestible, food; 

The pigs in pens 9 and 11, ate precisely the same amount 
of bran per week, but the pigs in pen 11 were allowed 8^ |^ 
lbs. of meal more than pen 9; and it will be seen that this 
8^1^ lbs. of extra meal produced over 3'|^ lbs. of extra 
increase. 

Comparing pen 1 with pen 5, it will be seen that the 
pigs having pea meal alone, gain over 3 lbs. a week more 
than those having Indian meal alone; but the pigs in pen 
1 ate more pea meal than the pigs in pen 5 did of Indian 
meal, and the actual increase from the food consumed is, 
if anything, rather in fivor of the Indian meal. It will 
be found that 100 lbs. of pea meal produce 20 lbs. of in- 
crease, while 100 lbs. of Indian meal produced 20.3 lbs. 
.increase. It would seem from this that 100 lbs. of peas 
will not produce any more pork than 100 lbs of corn. At 
the same time, it would seem that pigs will grow or fatten 
f ister on peas than on corn. They are capable of eating 
more peas than corn. 

By comparing pens 2 and 6, we have the same general 
indications. In pen 2, the pigs had pea meal ad libituin^ 
and 2 lbs. of corn meal each, j^er day; Avhile in pen 6, 
they had Indian meal ad libitum^ and 2 lbs. of pea meal 
each, per day. Pen 2 ate the most food, and gained the 
most rapidly. But still the amount of food required to 
6* 



130 



HARRIS OX THE PIG. 



produce a given increase is almost identical. In pen 2, 
100 lbs. of meal produced 21^2 lbs. of increase ; in pen 6, 
21.3 lbs. 

The more we study these results, the more are we im- 
pressed with the importance of the study of physiology 
and breeding, in connection with the chemistry of food. 
Thus, in the same pen, on the same food, one pig gains 
45 lbs., and another 114. In another pen, one gains 65, 
and another, on the same food, 143 lbs. And so it is in 
all our exj^eriments on animals. There is a cause for this, 
and we cannot but hope that the subject will receive more 
attention frotn scientific investigators than they have 
hitherto bestowed upon it. 

We should remark that, in pen 5, with Indian meal 
alone, one of the Pigs, No. 1, during the first fortnight, 
gained over 2 lbs. per day, while the other two only 
gained about half as much. Before the end of the first 
fortnight, however, " it was observed that this fast gain- 
ing pig, and one of the others, namely, No. 3, had large 
swellings on the side of their necks, and that, at the same 
time, their breathing had become labored. 

"It was obvious," say Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert, " that 
the Indian corn-meal alone was, in some way, a defective 
diet ; and it occurred to us that it was comparatively poor, 
both in nitrogen, and in mineral matter, though we were 
inclined to suspect that it was a deficiency of the latter, 
rather than of the former, that was the cause of tlie ill 
efiects produced. We were, at any rate, unwilling, so 
far to disturb the plan of the experiments, as to increase 
the supply of nitrogenous constituents in the food, and 
accordingly determined to continue the food as before, 
but at least to try the effect of putting within reach of 
the pigs a trough of some mineral substances, of which 
they could take if they were disposed. The mixture 
which was prepared was as follows : 



LAWES' AND GILBERT'S EXPERIMENTS. 131 

20 lbs. finely sifted coal ashes, 
4 lbs. common salt, 
1 lb. superphosphate of lime. 

" A trough containing this mineral mixture was put 
into the pen at the commencement of the second fort- 
night, and the pigs soon began to lick it with evident 
relish. From this time the swellings, or tumors, as well 
as the difficulty in breathing, which probably arose from 
pressure of the former, began to diminish rapidly. In- 
deed, at the end of this second fortnight, the swellings 
were very much reduced, and at the end of the third fort- 
niglit, they had disappeared entirely. 

" The three pigs consumed of the mineral mixture, de- 
scribed above, 9 lbs. during the first fortnight, 6 lbs. during 
the second, and 9 lbs. daring the third. 

*' It may be also well to state that ' a butcher, with a 
practised eye, selected and purchased the carcass of one 
of these [Indian corn fed] pigs, which had been diseased, 
from among the whole thirty-six, after they had been 
killed and hung up.' " 

Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert also made a second scries of 
experiments on 36 pigs, divided as before, into 12 pens. 
The foods used were the same as in the first series, except 
that barley-meal was substituted for Indian corn, and the 
pigs were allowed 3 lbs. each, per day, instead of 2 lbs. 

The pigs were about nine months old, and ranged from 
105 lbs. to 138 lbs. each. They were shut up in the pens 
April 26, and allowed all they would eat of a mixture of 
equal parts of bean and lentil meal, barley-meal, and 
bran. They were kept on this food until May 9, when 
they were again weighed, and the exact experiment com- 
menced. All the pigs seem to have done remarkably 
well on this food, many of them gaining over 2 lbs. a day. 

During the subsequent experimental period, however, 
no less than five of the pigs died, and for this reason we 
will not enter into a detailed account of the experiment. 



132 HARRIS OX THE PIG 

The five pigs that died Avere in five different pens, feeding 
on different food. But it appears that they all belonged 
to one of the purchased lots of eight, and possibly to one 
litter, and, as Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert remark, "the 
loss was probably due to the bad constitution of the ani- 
mals." The weather, however, Avas very hot, and unfa- 
vorable to the health of j^igs kept closely confined and 
fed on rich food. 

The gain of some of the pigs in this series was quite 
remarkable. Thus, in jDen 2, which was allowed 3 lbs. of 
barley-meal per pig, per day, and bean and lentil meal 
ad libitum^ one of the pigs gained 120 lbs. in eiglit 
weeks, or 15 lbs. a week. In the same pen, the other two 
pigs gained, one 65 lbs., and the other 99 lbs., during the 
same j^eriod, and on the same food. In pen 5, with bar- 
ley-meal alone, ad libitum, one of the j^igs gained 142 
lbs. in the eight weeks, or 17^ |^ lbs. a week. One of the 
other pigs in this pen gained 87 lbs., and the other pig 
died. 

It is very evident from these experiments that the suc- 
cess of a pig-feeder will depend much more on good judg- 
ment in selecting, or on care in breeding, the pigs he in- 
tends to fatten, than on the particular kind of grain given 
to them. 

The best result of any pen in this series Avas where the 
pigs were allowed a mixture of 1 part bran, 2 parts bean 
and lentil meal (say pea-meal), and 3 parts barley-meal. 
The three pigs on this food gained 310 lbs. in eight weeks, 
or within two pounds of 13 lbs. each j^er week. Another 
pen, having j^recisely the same food, gave almost exactly 
the same gain, or 307 lbs. in eight weeks. An adjoining 
pen, having the same food, but a greater proportion of 
bean and lentil meal, and less barley-meal, gained 283 lbs. 
in the eight weeks, or about 11^ |^ lbs. each per week. One 
hundred pounds of the former mixture gave 20 lbs. of in- 
crease ; of the latter, 18' |^ lbs. 



LAWES AXD GILBERT S EXPERIMENTS. 



133 



Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert also made a third series of 
experiments, the pigs being fed on dried codfish, in con- 
junction with bran, Indian meal, bean and lentil meal, and 
barley-meal, in different proportions. The codfish was 
boiled in water, and the m.eal mixed with it before being 
fed to the pigs. 

The following table shows the composition of this dried 
codfish, together with the composition of the other foods 
used in this and the preceding experiments : 

TABLE SHOWING THE COMPOSITION OF THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF 

FOOD USED IN MESSRS. LAWES' AND GILBERT'S 

EXPERIMENTS ON PIGS. 





PEU CEXTAGE KESXTLTS. 




Dry 
Matter. 


Ash. Nitrogen.. 


Fatty 
Matter. 


Description of Food. 


"§ <S's 

1^ n 






^1 




Eo'yptian Beans 


88.. 30 83.57 
87.30 82.43 
86.62 81.64 
89.70 88.33 
89.89 88.62 
84.79 78.77 
82. .3880. 19 
80.95i78.77 
82.. 53 80. 48 
59.26.40.60 


4.73 

4.87 
4.98 
1.37 
1.28 
6.02 
2.19 
2.18 
2.05 
18.66 


5.354.24 4.S02.29'2.60 


Lentils — Lot 1 

" Lot 2 


5.58 4.52' 5.18 2.23 2. .55 
5.754.56: 5.2«'2.21 2.55 


Indian Meal— Lot 1 

Lot2 

Bran 


1.53 1.72J 1.92 
1.421.95 2.17 
7.10,2.611 3.08 


5.10 5.68 
5.59 6.23 
4.925.80 


Barley — Lot 1 


2.6611.82 

2.69:1.83 

2.48 1.55 

31.496.60 


2.21 


2.34:2.84 


'• Lot 2 


2.26 

1.88 

11.13 


2.332.88 
1.4111.71 
0.90:i.52 


Lot 3 

Dried New Foundland Codfish 



In pen 1 the pigs were given, and compelled to eat, 14 
lbs. each of codfish, per week, mixed with equal parts 
bran and Indian meal. Of this mixture they had all they 
could eat, and consumed 47 lbs. each, per week, and 
gained 10.09 lbs. each. 

In pen 2, each pig had, as above, 14 lbs. codfish, and 
ate with it 45' |^ lbs. Indian meal alone, per week, and 
gained 12.15 lbs. 

In pen 3 the pigs had a mixture of equal parts Indian 
meal and bran, and as much codfish as they chose to eat. 
They ate 47 lbs. of the mixture of bran and meal, and 



134 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

only 7^1 2 lbs. of codfish each, per week, and gamed 
8.94 lbs.' 

It will be seen that, when left to their own choice, tlie 
pigs in pen 3 ate only about half as much codfish as those 
in pens 1 and 2, where their other food was kept back 
until they had eaten their allowance of 2 lbs. of codfish 
per day. 

The above pigs were about nine or ten months old, and 
were similar in character, weight, etc., to the pigs in the 
first two series of experiments. 

In another series of experiments with eight pigs, seven 
months old, and " more finely framed " than the preced- 
ing pigs, 1 lb. of codfish was given to each pig, per day, 
with, in one pen, barley-meal alone, and in the other, with 
a mixture of 2 parts barley-meal, and 1 part bran. 

In pen 4, the pigs ate 7 lbs. of codfish, and 49 lbs. of 
bran and barley meal each, per week, and gained 9.40 lbs. 

In pen 5, the pigs ate 7 lbs. of codfish, and 57^ 1^ lbs. 
of barley-meal each, per week, and gained 11.75 lbs. 

These facts will prove interesting and useful to farmers 
living near the sea-shore, in localities where fish are used 
for expressing oil, and where the refuse is sold for manure, 
or for food for pigs. An analysis of this refuse, taken in 
connection with the above experiments, should indicate 
its value as food for pigs, and it is nn easy matter to calr 
culate the value of the manure made by the pigs. 



SUGAR AS FOOD FOR PIGS. 135 



CHAPTER XIV. 

SUGAR AS FOOD FOR PIGS. 

Messrs. Lawes & Gilbert also made some experiments 
on -pigs to ascertain the nutritive value of sugar as com- 
pared with starch. 

Twelve pigs weighing from 72 lbs. to 98 lbs. each were 
placed in four pens, 3 pigs in a pen. Lentils and bran 
were selected as the nitrogenous food, and in pens 1,2 and 
3 the pigs w^ere allowed 3 lbs. of lentil meal, and 1 lb. of 
bran each per day, and in addition, the pigs in pen one 
were allowed all the sugar they would eat, and those in 
pen 2, all the starch they would eat, and in pen 3 a mixtu: e 
of equal parts starch and sugar. The pigs in pen 4 were 
furnished, in separate troughs, all the lentil meal, bran, 
starch and sugar they w^ould eat. The experiment was con- 
tinued 10 weeks. In pen 1, the pigs ate nearly 2 lbs. of 
sugar each per day, and in pen 2, a nearly identical quan- 
tity of starch ; the other food being tlie same in kind and 
quality in both pens. The increase obtained from 100 lbs. 
of food was in pen 1, 20.8 lbs., and in pen 2, 19.9 lbs. 

The pigs in pen 3, having a mixture of equal parts 
starch and sugar, and the same quantity of lentil meal and 
bran as in pens 1 and 2, ate 2f lbs. each per day of the 
starch and sugar. The increase from 100 lbs. of total food 
was 19.8 lbs. 

In pen 4, w^here the pigs were allowed all they chose 
to eat of the different foods, each pig ate per day on the 
average, lentil meal 4 lbs. 6 oz., bran 3^ oz., starch 3f oz. 
and sugar 2 lbs. 2 oz. They ate more food and gained 
more rapidly than in any other pen. The increase from 
100 lbs. of food was 21.3 lbs. 



136 HARRIS ON" THE PIG. 

Without going into further details, it is evident that the 
pigs show a great preference for sugar as compared with 
starch, but it does not appear that sugar produces any 
materially greater increase than starch. Certainly there 
is no benefit approximating in the slightest degree to the 
increased cost of sugar ; and it is very doubtful whether 
we should gain any marked advantage by converting our 
barlev into malt or of g-rowino: su2:ar beets instead of 
ordinary beets or mangel wurzel. 

We should add that a mixture of 20 lbs. of coal and 
wood-ashes, 2^ lbs. of superphosphate of lime and 2^ lbs, 
of common salt was placed in troughs in the pens. This 
quantity being distributed to the 12 pigs during each period 
of two weeks. 

Messrs. Lawes & Gilbert say : This mineral mixture 
was always taken with the greatest avidity and relish ; so 
much so, that the animals would leave their other troughs 
the moment the fresh supply of this was put within their 
reach. They were, moreover, upon the whole, very healthy 
throughout the experiment, and yielded good rates of 
increase. 

In Messrs. Lawes' & Gilbert's account of these experi- 
ments, the actual gain of each pig is not given. But since 
writing the above, we have found the weights of the pigs 
at the commencement and at the end of the experiment, 
from which it appears that 

the 2)igs in pen 1 gained 8.2 lbs. each per week. 
" " " 2 '* 8.2 lbs. " " " • 

" " " 3 " 9.1 lbs. and " 

" " " 4 " 10.4 lbs. " " 

To a practical farmer these actual figures are more in- 
teresting than mere percentage results. From this it 
would appear that, leaving the question of cost and profit 
out of the question, there may be cases where, with an 
unlimited supply of other food, a little sugar may be given 
to a pig with advantage. A pig with a delicate appetite 



THE VALUE OF PIG MANURE. 137 

might be given ordinary food, and then when he had eaten 
all he would of it, by mixing a Kttle sugar with the food, 
he might be induced to eat more. 



CHAPTER Xy. 

THE VALUE OF PIG MANURE. 

There is much misconception in regard to the relative 
Value of manure from different animals. It is often said 
that the manure of pigs is richer than that from cattle, 
horses, or sheep. This is sometimes the case, and some- 
times not. It depends entirely on the food. An animal 
does not " make manure " any more than a stove makes 
ashes, or a thrashing machine makes grain, chaff, and 
straw. We feed a thrashing machine with a certain num- 
ber of bundles of wheat, and get from it a certain amount 
of grain, straw, and chaff — but the machine does not 
make them. It was all in the bundles, and the machine 
merely separates them. And so it is in the case of an 
animal. A pig has no more to do in making rich or poor 
manure than a thrashing machine has in making white 
or red wheat. It depends entirely on the food. 

There is little or no difference in the composition or 
value between the manure of a pig fed on clover, and that 
of a sheep, or a cow, or a horse, fed on clover. But if a 
pig is fed on clover, and the sheep is fed on straw, the 
manure of the pig will bo by far the most valuable, sim- 
ply because the clover contains a greater proportion of 
the more important elements of plant-food. 

A ton of corn, fed to a pig, will not give manure worth 
as much as a ton of clover hay fed to a sheep, for the 



138 HARRIS ON THE TIG. 

Bimple reason that a ton of clover liay contains more of 
the valuable constituents of plant-food than a ton of corn. 
But a ton of j^ig manure from a corn-fed pig may be, and 
often is, worth more than a ton of sheep manure from 
sheep fed on clover hay. The explanation of these appa- 
rently contradictory statements is this : A ton of corn 
contains more nutritious matter than a ton of clover. It 
contains more starch and oil, and these are digested and 
assimilated by the pig, and consequently there is a less 
quantity of matter to bo voided as excrements. On the 
other hand, although a ton of clover contains a greater 
proportion of the more valuable elements of plant-food 
than a ton of corn, yet the clover does not contain nearly 
as much nutritious food as the corn. There is a large 
proportion of crude material that cannot be digested, and 
this is voided in the excrements ; consequently, we get 
more manure from the ton of clover hay than from a ton 
of corn. It is not worth as much, vreight for weight, but 
it is worth more as a whole, because there is more of it. 
In other words, a ton of pig manure from corn may be 
worth as much again, as a ton of sheep manure from clo- 
ver hay ; and, in point of fict, pig manure is ordinarily 
worth much more per ton than the manure from cows, 
horses, or sheep. But, at the same time, it is equally true 
that, if the same food was fed to a sheep that we feed to 
the pig, the manure of the sheep would be equally valua- 
ble. Pig manure is usually more valuable, in proportion 
to its weight or bulk, than ordinary farm-yard manure, 
because the pigs are fed on more nutritious food, or, in 
other words, on food containing a less proportion of crude, 
indigestible matter, and consequently we get less bulk of 
manure from the j^ig, but it is more valuable. But it is a 
grave error to suppose that a pig will make better manure 
than a sheep, a cow, or a horse. 

The following table, prepared by Mr. Lawes, shows the 
average composition of different articles of food, together 



THE VALUE OF PIG MANUIIK, 



139 



with the relative value of the manure made from, the con- 
sumption of one ton of each food. 



3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

9. 
10. 
11. 
1:2. 
13. 
14. 
15. 
16. 
17. 
13. 
19. 
20. 
21. 
22. 
23. 
24. 
25. 
26. 
27. 
28. 
29. 
30, 
31. 



Linseed cake 

Cotton-seed cake*. 

Rape cake 

Linseed.. 

Beans 

Peas 

Tares 

Lentils 

Malt dust. 

Locust beans 

Indian meal 

Wheat 

Barley 

Malt 

Oats. 

Fine pollardt 

Coarse pollard:}: 

Wheat bran 

Clover hay . 

Meadow hay 

Bean ptraw 

Pea straw 

Wheat straw 

Barley straw 

Oat straw 

Mangel wurzel . . . 
Swedish turnips .. 
Common turnips.. 

Potatoes 

Carrots 

Parsnips 



PER CENT. 



^ 









2 






07 

08 

0:8 

04 
03 
5 2 




















05 

06 

06 

07 

06 

5 5 

0^5 





4.02 
7.00 
5.75 
3.38 
2.20 
1.84 
1.63 
1.89 
5.23 

lj'3 
1.87 
1.35 
1.60 
1.17 
6.44 
7.52 
7.95 
1.25 
0.88 
0.90 
0.85 
0.55 
0.37 
0.48 
0.09 
0.13 
0.11 
0.32 
0.13 
0.42 



1.65 

3.12 

1.76 

1.3 

1.2' 

0.96 

0.66 

0.96 

2.12 

6.35 

0.50 

0..55 

0.65 

0.5012 

1.46 2 

1.492 

1.452 

1.30 2 



•S:C) 



^2 



h^ 

75 19.72 
50 27.86 
00 21.01 
80:15.65 
00 15.75 
40113.38 
20 16.75 
30 16.51 
20 18.21 



4.81 
6.65 
7.08 
6.32 
6.65 
7.70 



,60 13.53 
,58 14.36 
,5514.59 



1.50 

1.11 

0.89 

0.65 

0.630 

O.OS^O 

0.25 



O.lf 
'0 29 
10.43 

!0.2P 
'0.36 



9.64 

6.43 

3.87 

3.74 

2.68 

2.25 

2.90 

1.07 

91 

80 

1.50 

80 

1.14 



* The manure from a ton of undecorticated cotton-seed cake is worth $15.74 ; 
that from a ton of cotton-seed, after being ground and sifted, is worth $13.25. 
The grinding and sifting, in Mr. Lawes experiments, removed about 8 per cent 
of husk and cotton. Cotton-seed, so treated, proved to be a very rich and 
economical food. 

t Middlings, Canielle. t Shipstuff. 

This table is of great value to the farmer. Hitherto, 
we have worked pretty much in the dark iu regard to the 
profit or loss of fattening pigs. Many farmers contend 
that there is no profit in feeding hogs, while others claim 



140 HARRIS O:^ THE PIG. 

that, Mhen the manure is taken into consideration, there 
is no farm stock that i)ays bo well. But it must be con- 
fessed that the wildest estimates are often made in regard 
to the value of the manure. By tlie aid of the above ta- 
ble it will not be difficult to form a pretty correct estimate 
of the value of the manure from any given lot of pigs, 
j)rovided the kind and amount of food consumed is known. 

Thus, if a pig was fed exclusively on corn from the 
time it was weaned until it had gained 350 lbs., it would 
eat about 1,500 lbs. of corn. Now, as the manure from a 
ton of corn is worth $6.65, the manure from 1,500 lbs. is 
worth 14.99. We may assume, therefore, that when pigs 
are fed on corn, in the production of every hundred 
pounds of jDork, live weight, we get $1.42 worth of ma- 
nure. Or, assuming that a fat pig will dress 80 per cent 
of its live weight, we may conclude that, in the produc- 
tion of every hundred pounds of pork, we get manure 
wortli $1.78. In other words, in calculating the profit or 
loss of feeding ]iigs on corn, we may add 1^|^ cents per 
pound (in gold), to the j^rice of the pork for the value of 
the manure obtained. 

On the other hand, if the pigs are fed on peas, we 
get manure worth more than twice as much, and may add 
o' 1^ cents a pound to the price of the pork for the value 
of the manure made in its production. In this case, if 
pork sells for 7 cents per pound, we may calculate that 
for every dollar's worth of pork sold, we have 50 cents' 
Avorth of manure ; or, if the pork sells for 10^ j„ cents per 
pound, for every dollar's worth of pork sold we have S3 
cents' worth of manure in the pig pen. 

Boussingault states that j^igs from 5 to 6 months old 
will eat 19 lbs. of green clover per day — equal to about 
5 lbs. of clover hay each. On such food we may safely 
calculate that a good pig will gain half a pound of pork 
a day ; and if so, a pig that would dress 200 lbs. would 
have eaten green clover equal to one ton of clover hay; 



THE VALUE OF PIG MANUKE. 141 

and as the manure from a ton of clover hay is worth 
$9.64, we may calculate that every hundred pounds of 
pork so produced, leaves us $4.82 worth of manure. 

When pigs are fed skhmiied milk, we shall probably 
not be far wrong in estimating that tlie manure made in 
producing 100 lbs. of pork is worth $5.00. 

Taking tliese four estimates together, and striking a 
moan, we have the following result : 

Value of manure in producing 100 lbs. of pork from Indian corn $1.78 

" " " " " " Peas 3.50 

" «' '« " " " Clover 4.8-2 

" " " " " " Skimmed Milk 5.00 

Average of the whole $3.79 

In other words, where pigs are fed on clover and 
skimmed milk during the summer, and are afterwards fat- 
tened on half peas and half corn, Ave may calculate that 
every pound of pork sold, leaves on the farm 3^|^ cents' 
worth of manure. 

It must be borne in mind that these are gold prices, and 
also that this is merely the value of the manure made by 
the pigs from the food consumed. The litter and other 
materials thrown into the pen have not been taken into 
the account. The pig cannot be credited with the manure 
so obtained. If we throw into the pen 100 lbs. of pea or 
bean straw, we add about 19 cents to the value of the 
manure heap ; but this is not derived from the pig, but 
from the straw ; and so it is with anything else thrown 
into the pen. The pig converts it into manure, but adds 
nothing to its value. The pig creates nothing. Whatever 
of value there is in the manure heap is derived from the 
food consumed, and from the materials used as littei*. 
And yet it is nevertheless true, that we can obtain from 
the pig pen a large amount of valuable manure that other- 
wise would be wasted. 

On farms, we have seldom time to attend to such mat- 
ters, and there is not as great a necessity for it ; but per- 



142 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

sons who have only a garden or small place, should have 
a pig pen, with a small yard attached, into which all the 
refuse materitil of the garden can be conveniently thrown 
— such as the cli})pings of the lawn, weeds, potato tops, 
pea and bean haulm, leaves, coal ashes, the loose dirt that 
is raked up in the garden beds, alleys, and walks, and the ■ 
thousand and one things that we denominate rubbish. 
The whole of it should go into the yard attached to the 
pig 'pen. This is a much better way of disposing of it, 
than endeavoring to make a " compost heap." With such 
a yard, there never need be any trouble in determining 
where the materials in the wheel-barrow should be emptied. 
You have always a place for all rubbish that is lying 
around loose, and it will be an easy matter to keep the 
premises neat and clean. 

" But oh, the smell !" exclaims a gentleman who let his 
Irish coachman keep a pig, " I cannot endure it." True ; 
but tliis is the fault of the man, and not of the pig. A 
respectable, well brought up pig is the cleanest of all our 
domestic animals. Let him be washed once a week, and 
let plenty of dry earth, or soil of any kind, be scattered 
freely and frequently about the pen and yard, and all 
trouble from tins source will cease, and the pig, if well 
bred, and well fed, will become one of tlie most popular 
features of the establishment, and he \\ill be profitable 
also. He will ^^ay in using up the refuse from the house 
and from the garden ; pay in delicious hams, spare-ribs, 
and tenderloin ; pay in firm, white, sweet lard ; and, above 
all, he will pay in furnishing a large, rich compost for the 
garden, which, with the addition of a little superphos- 
phate and guano, will pay double and treble in the 
abundance of crisp vegetables and well developed fruit. 

The main point in managing a pig pen in such a case is, 
to furnish an abundance of earth to keep it clean. The 
pigs will root it over and mix it with the manure. The 
earth, especially if of a sandy nature, will at once favor 



THE VALUE OF PIG MANURE. 143 

decomposition and absorb the gases, and they in their 
turn will develop the plant-food in the soil, and we get a 
large quantity of manure that is free from smell, and not 
unpleasant to work over or use in the garden. 

Where horses are kept, the refuse litter from the stables 
should be thrown into the pig pen. Horse manure is apt 
to ferment too rapidly, while pig manure is very sluggish. 
Mixing the two together improves both ; and besides, the 
horse manure, when dry, makes a good bed for the pigs, 
and saves litter. 

For garden vegetables, rich manure is especially valu- 
able. It is desirable to concentrate the manure as much 
as possible. We do this by fermentation, which reduces 
the bulk, and at the same time renders the plant-food in 
the manure more immediately available. The plan here 
suggested, of throwing the dry manure from the horse 
stables into the pig pen, will tend still more to concentrate 
the manure. Pigs void large quantities of liquid, which 
contains nearly all the nitrogen of the food. The horse 
manure will absorb this, and, of course, we get a much 
more concentrated manure from tlie pig pen than when 
straw alone is used for bedding. We may not get any 
more plant-food from the two combined than we should 
if the droppings from the stable and from the pig pen 
were used separately, but we get it in a more concentrated 
form and in a moi-e available condition ; and this is a point 
of far greater importance than is usually supposed. We 
are inclined to believe that many of the diseases which 
affect vegetables in our old gardens are caused, or at least 
increased, by the excessive accumulation of carbonaceous 
matter in the soil, caused by the frequent use of manure 
deficient in phosphoric acid, potash and ammonia. The 
manure from a pig pen littered with horse droppings, 
thoroughly decomposed and mixed with earth, would 
furnish garden vegetables with all the plant-food they re- 
quired in an available condition, and there would be less 



1 14 HARRIS OX THE PIG. 

danger from fungi than where a large quantity of poor 
manure was frequently used. 

On many farms half the value of the manure made by 
pigs is wasted. There is no part of the establishment so 
miserably managed as the pig pen. It is often nothing 
more than a pen of rails, with a little hovel in one corner, 
covered with corn-stalks, or straw, and the pigs are left 
to eat the corn on the ground, and wallow in mud and 
filth. If pork can be made at a profit in this way, it must 
be a good business when conducted proj)erly. 



CHAPTER XYI. 

PIGGERIES AND PIG PENS. 

In selecting a site for a pig pen, the first requisite is 
dryness. A side hill, sloping towards the barn-yard, is a 
desirable location ; and if this cannot be found in a con- 
venient place, it is not a difiicult or expensive matter, with 
a dirt scraper and a span of horses, to form a basin in the 
barn-yard, using the dirt to make a high and dry founda- 
tion for the pig pens, and forming a slope towards the 
basin, so that the liquid from the pens will rajDidly drain 
away to the manure heap. If the soil is not dry, it must 
be drained with tile, or stone underdrains, at least two 
feet deep ; and if there is suflicient fall, four feet would 
be far better. These underdrains are not designed to 
carry off the water from the surface, but to make the soil 
underneath dry. Surface drainage must be attended to 
also ; for, as the Uquid from well-fed pigs is the most valu- 
able portion of the manure, it is especially important that 
the whole of it should either be absorbed by the straw or 
other bedding in the pen, or drain away to the manure heap. 

The next important consideration in locating the pig 



PIGGEKIES A]S"D PIG PENS. 145 

pen is, convenience of feeding. Where there is much milk 
or whey, the pen should be located with reference to con- 
veying it to pigs with the least labor. The only objection 
to having a pig pen near the house is, the smell ; but the 
labor required to carry the slops of the house, etc., through 
a dirty barn-yard, would provide muck and other absorb- 
ent materials for rendering the pig pens free from all un- 
pleasant odor, and furnish a large quantity of valuable 
manure into the bargain. 

Pigs should have access to fresh water at all times, and 
the piggeries should be near a pump. If there is no well, a 
large cistern should be provided, and the rain-water from 
the buildings conveyed into it; and, in any case, the 
buildings must be furnished with gutters, to prevent the 
water running on to the manure, and washing out its 
soluble and most valuable plant-food. 

Where stone is abundant, this is the cheapest and best 
material for the lower story of the pig ]3ens. The floors 
may be laid with flags, and the joints grouted with water- 
lime and gravel, or the whole may be grouted with lime 
and gravel, taking care to provide good drainage. We 
should add, however, that a farmer of much experience, 
who built an expensive piggery, and flagged and grouted 
the bottom of the pens, says that his pigs did not thrive 
in them, and he subsequently put in plank floors. He 
thought the grouted floor was cold and damj). He is 
satisfied, at any rate, that pigs do much better on plank, 
than on stone, or grouted floors. 

Some of our own pig pens have no other floor than 
beaten earth / and we are inclined to think that there is 
no material superior to it, and certainly none so cheap. 
The great point is, to have the ground high enough, so 
that the pens shall be always dry. If not so high that 
the liquid will not run rapidly away, draw on several 
loads of clay, and pound it down hard with a beater. 
Keep the pen well littered, and always clean ; let the pigs 
7 



146 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

have access to fresh earth, ashes, charcoal, etc., and they 
will not root up the floor. 

In arranging the pig pen, special attention should he 
given to providing a ready means of cleaning out the 
manure, and supplying it with fresh bedding. A pig- 
pen should he cleaned out every day, as regularly as we 
clean out our stables. If the pens are conveniently ar- 
ranged for the purpose, it is but a few minutes work, and 
it will soon lead the pigs to form cleanly habits, and thus 
save bedding. 

In pens for breeding sows, we have found it very con- 
venient, in cold weather, to have a partition between the 
sleeping and feeding apartments, with a sliding door, that 
can be easily closed. It is desirable, when pigs are to be 
made ready for the butcher in eight or nine months, that 
the sow should farrow early in March ; and it often hap- 
pens that this interesting event occurs during a severe 
snow storm. With a warm sleeping apartment, and with 
a door that can be closed at uight, or at any time after 
the sow has been fed, thousands of pigs that are now lost 
might be saved. This plan is particularly essential where 
the feeding apartment is partially or wholly uncovered. 
But even where both apartments are covered, it is better 
to have a partition that can be opened in warm weather, 
and closed during cold storms. 

The only objection to this plan is, that the sow has not 
so much room, and there may be increased danger of her 
crushing the pigs against the sides of the pen. This ob- 
jection, however, is more apparent than real, from the 
fact, that no matter how large the pen is, the sow is almost 
certain to make her bed near one of the sides. She almost 
invariably, in pigging, places her hack against the rail or 
side of the pen, the object probably being to j^revent the 
little pigs from getting on the wrong side of her, where 
they would, in cold weather, be likely to perish before 
they find the teats. Our breeding pens have a rail on the 



PIGGERIES AND PIG PENS. 



147 



inside, about six inches from the sides of the pen and 
about one foot high, but the sows before pigging take 
special pains to fill the space with straw, and we are satis- 
fied that if they did not, the little pigs, when born during 
a cold niofht, would often o-et on the backside of the sow 
and be chilled to death. 

The accompanying plan of a piggery (fig. 29) is furnish- 
ed us by Dr. M. Miles, Professor of Agriculture in the 
Michigan Agricultural College, who writes : 

" It needs but little explanation, except in regard to the 
backside of the building. The lean-to is a shed, open above 
the pen partition, that separates it from the yard. This 




Fig. 29.— PIGGERT AT THE MICHIGAN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 

ELEVATION. 

opening may be closed in winter, if desirable. The up- 
right, or main building, is not boarded up below the roof 
of the lean-to. Figure 30 gives the ground plan. The 
curved, dotted lines, show the sw^ing of the doors, and 
the straight, dotted lines, mark the position of the low 
partitions, enclosing the bed. The plan of arrangement 
can be carried out with a single pen, or it can be indefinite- 
ly extended for large estabUshments. The shed for pro- 
tecting the manure can be readily cleaned out by a cart 
or wheel-barrow, running through the open doors, between 
the shed pens, while the swhie are shut out in the yards, 
or in the front pens. I have not attempted to show the 
arrangement of the troughs, but simply mark their posi- 



148 



HARRTS ON THE PIG. 




tion. Swine can be easily changed from one pen to 
another, by shutting out others in the yard, or front pen. 
The upper story is for storing feed, or bedding, etc." 

The writer's pig pens are of a very simple kind, put up 
by an ordinary farm hand, as a temporary arrangement, 










SXG^ 



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i 




1 






Trouff/i 














8M5 


10X15 




1 


i 

1 


! 

1 1 






\ Bed 

i 


\ Bed 


\ Bed 



A 


/ 




1 


/ 


/^ 


/ 




\ 1 


\ 


i [1 


manun 


\ 


8/13 \ 1 


1 

\ 


1 \ 


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1 , 1 




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1 , '' . 


ioxm\^ 


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Yard 


Yard 


Yard 


Yard 


Yard 


Yard 


Yard 


Yard 



Fig. 30. — PIGGERY AT THE MICHIGAN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 
GROUND PLAN. 

but, as they are found to answer a very good purpose, in 
the absence of anything better, we give a description of 
them. 

The old pig pen, which we found on the farm, was 
placed on one corner of the barn-yard, selected, apparent- 
ly, because it was the lowest and wettest hole about the 
premises. The bottom was laid with plank, to keep the 
pigs out of the water. This was very well ; but the mo- 
ment the pigs stepped out of the pen, they plunged into 



PIGGERIES AND PIG PENS. 140 

a wet mass of manure and filth. They were obliged to 
wallow through tliis mud and manure every time they 
went to or from the pig pen. We have a weakness for 
hyacinths and roses, but found that the largest beds of 
them afforded no pleasure so long as there was such a pig 
pen in one corner of the garden. 

Thanks to the invention of India rubber boots, it was 
possible to get about on the backside of the pig pen. We 
endured this two years, being determined not to fall into 
the common error of new-comers, of tearing down old 
buildings before we had determined where to erect new 
ones. At length, however, with axes, crowbars, a span 
of horses, and a log chain, we made short work with the 
old pig pen. Not a stick of it was left standing. The 
ground being cleared, the first thing was to dig an under- 
drain, 3 feet deep, underneath, and at the point where 
the surface-water settled ; we covered the" tiles with stones 
to the top of the land, so that the water from a heavy 
rain could pass off rapidly. We may add, that the soil 
underneath the old pig pen, for two feet deep, was found 
to be the blackest and richest of manure. With a plow 
and a dirt scraper, this was all removed, and ultimately 
drawn on to the land. This manui-e was certainly worth 
three times as much as the old pig pen. 

The barn-yard was on a side-hill, the pig pen, as Ave 
have said, being on one of the lower corners. On the 
north side of the barn-yard there is a barn, with cow sta- 
bles underneath, and a horse barn at the north-west corner. 
The pig pen was at the south-west corner. The 
first thing done, was to build a stone wall on the 
west side of the yard, 80 feet long, and 6 feet high, 
laid in mortar. The next thing was, to plow out the cen- 
ter of the barn-yard, and, with a dirt scraper, and a span 
of horses, make a basin 5 or 6 feet deep, with sloping 
sides. The dirt from this basin was emptied along the 
side of the stone wall, 15 or 16 feet wide, with a 



150 



HAEEIS ON THE PIG. 




PIGGERIES AND PIG PENS. 151 

gentle slope from the wall, and the old hole, where the 
former pig pen stood, was raised in the same way. This 
gave us a dry foundation. As we have said, the wall was 
built 6 feet high, but, by the time we had scraped out the 
basin, and put the dirt on the side of the wall, we had 
raised the land 18 inches, or 2 feet. In other words, the 
land on the east side, towards the barn-yard, was nearly 
2^feet higher than on the opposite side of the wall. The 
underdrain alluded to, runs along the side of the wall, on 
the west side, outside the barn-yard, and now, instead of 
needing India rubber boots, we can walk around in slippers. 
On the top of the wall, a stick of timber was placed, 
and we proceeded to put up a common shed, with roof 
boards, 14 feet long, and battened in the ordinary way. 
Of course the roof slopes towards the wall, so as to carry 
the water outside of the barn-yard, where it soaks through 
the soil to the underdrain. This shed is divided off into 
pig pens, as shown in the diagram, figure 31. 

The pens are 12 feet deep, and 16 feet wide. (It would 
have been better to have had the roof boards 16 feet long 
instead of 14 feet, as it would have added very little to 
the expense, and would have given us pens 14 feet deep.) 
Between each two pens is an alley, 3 feet wide, boarded 
up on each side about 3 feet high. The pig trough is 
placed along-side these partitions, and the food is poured 
into it from the alley. 

Each pen is divided off into two parts— one for sleeping, 
and the other for feeding. The sleeping apartment is 
boarded up tight, with a sliding door, against the wall. 
One of the boards that forms the partition between the 
feeding and sleeping apartment is hung on hinges, so that 
it can be opened or shut, according to the weather. It is 
fastened by a common wooden button. One of the boards 
which form the outside of the pen is hung in the same 
way. This is very important, as it enables us to give an 
abundance of fresh air in warm weather, and we can close 



153 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

up the pen tight during a storm. It is also convenient in 
cleaning out the pen and putting in fresh bedding. 

We do not recommend these pens to any one who can 
afford to build better ones. Tbeir chief merit consists in 
their cheapness. They can be easily cleaned out, and sup- 
plied with fresh litter. Our pigs, when old enough, are 
allowed to run out every day, into the barn-yard, in win- 
ter, and the pasture in summer; and we find this arrange- 
ment convenient for letting them in and out of the pens, 
as each pen opens directly into the barn-yard. If well- 
bred, and properly treated^ the pigs will go to their own 
pens as readily as cows or horses will go to their own 
stalls. This may be doubted by those who ill-treat their 
pigs — or, in other words, by those who treat their pigs in 
the common way. But it is, nevertheless, a fact, that 
there is no more docile or tractable animal on a farm than 
a well-bred pig. There is a good deal of human nature 
about him. He can be led where he will be driven. 
A cross-grained man will soon spoil a lot of well-bred 
pigs. They know the tones of his voice, and it is amus- 
ing to see what tricks they will play him. We have seen 
such a man trying to get the pigs into their respective 
pens, and it would seem as though he had brought with 
him a legion of imps, and that seven of them had entered 
into each pig. No sow would go with her own pigs, and 
no pigs would go with their own mother ; the store pigs 
would go into the fattening pen, and the fattening pigs 
would go where the stores were Avanted. Should he get 
mad, and use a stick, some active porker would lead him 
in many a chase around the barn-yard ; and when one was 
tired, another pig, with brotherly affection, would take 
up the quarrel, and the old sows would stand by enjoying 
the fun. Let no such man have charge of any domestic 
animals. He is a born hewer of wood, and drawer of 
water, and should be sent to dig canals, or do night-work 
for the poudrette manufacturers. 



PIGGERIES AND PIG PENS. 153 

At their regular feeding time, we can take twenty or 
thirty of our own pigs, and separate them into their re- 
spective pens in a few minutes. They inherit a quiet dis- 
position, and we would dismiss on the spot, any hired man 
who should kick one of them, or strike him with a stick, 
and we cannot bear to hear an angry word spoken near 
the pens. 

The alleys between the pens we find convenient for 
storing away a small quantity of straw, a little of which 
can be used every day, to replace that removed in clean- 
ing the pens. By making a small hole in the side of the 
pen, little sucking pigs can come through, and eat a little 
milk or crushed oats out of a small trough, placed in the 
alley wiiere the sow cannot get at it. 

We have some pens that have no partition between the 
sleeping and feeding apartment. They are not as warm 
as the others, but having abundance of straw, they answer 
very well for store or fattening pigs or for a breeding sow 
in mild weather. On the whole, however, it is better to 
have the sleeping apartment separate, the pigs being 
warm, and not so liable to be disturbed. 

For a breeding sow, the sleeping apartment is 10 x 12 ft., 
and the feeding apartment 6x 12 ft. Such a pen .can ba 
used also for six or eight store pigs, or for three or four 
fattening pigs. 

We have smaller pens, 12x12 ft., either imdivided or 
divided into a sleeping apartment 7x 12 ft., and a feedhig 
apartment 5 x 12 ft. Such a pen, if divided, answers very 
well for a litter of young pigs, after weaning, or for fiit- 
tening two or three pigs, and we have used them for a 
small sow to farrow in. 

The most serious objection to this shed-made pig pen 
is, that the roof boards must be put on with great care, 
and well battened, or it will leak. They should, also, be 
well saturated with petroleum, to keep them from shrink- 
ing and warping. 



154 



HARRIS ON THE PIG. 



Paschal Morris, of Philadelphia, an extensive breeder 
of Chester Whites, describes his plan of a piggery as 
follows : 

" The plan of the piggery, delineated in the accompany- 
in"" eno-raving, (fig. 32) is susceptible of reduction or exten- 
sion for a larger or smaller number of pigs, and is intended 
to supersede the not only useless, but objectionable, as well 




Fig. 33. — PASCHAL morris' piggery.— elevation. 

as expensive, mode of constructing large buildings under 
one roof, where confined and impure air, as well as the 
difiiculty of keeping clean, interfere greatly with both 
health and tlirift. Twenty-five or thirty breeding sows, 
farrowing at different periods of the year, can be accom- 
modated under this system of separate pens, by bringing 
them successively within the enclosure, or an equal num- 



PIGGERIES AND PIG PENS. 



155 



ber of hogs can be fattened, without crowding or interfer- 
ence with each other. 

" The entrance, as seen in the engraving, is on the north 
side of the building, \<^hich fronts the soutli, as does also 
each separate pen. The main building is 32 feet long, by 
12 feet wide, with an entrance gate, at each lower corner, 
to the yard of two first divisions. The entry, or room, 
in the center, is 8 feet wide, allowing space for slop bar- 
rel, feed chest, charcoal barrel, (almost as indispensable as 
feed chest,) hatchway, for access to root cellar, underneath 
the whole building, and also passage-way to second story. 
This latter is used for storing corn in winter, and curing 



N 



K 






-th 




Fig. 33. — PASCHAL morris' piggery. — GROUND PLAN. 



some varieties of seeds in summer. A wooden spout, 
with sliding valve, conveys feed to the chest below. The 
grain is hoisted to the second floor by a pulley and tackle 
on the outside, as observed in engraving. 

*' The perspective of main building allows a partial view 
of platforms, surmounted by a board roof, and divisions 
in the rear. The ground plan, fig. 33, allows six of these on 
either side of the passage-way." The first two pens, to the 
right and left of the door, are 12 x 12 feet each, and at- 
tached to them are 25 feet in length of yard, by 15 feet 

wide. 

"All the yards are extended 3 feet wider than the 
bull din o-, which admits of the two entrance gates at the 
corners. 



156 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

"Another division then commences, consisting of a 
raised platform, 6 to 8 feet wide, and extending the same 
width as the first pen, with a board roof over it, and also 
boarded up on the back, which answers the purpose of a 
division fence, to separate from the pen behind. Twenty- 
five feet of yard are also attached to this, and the same 
arrangement is continued to all the six divisions. 

" We have found this board roof and wooden floor, on 
the north side of each pen, and fronting the south, to 
be ami)le protection in cohl, wet, or stormy weather. 
The floor is kept perfectly clean, and even the feeding 
trough is not on it, on account of more or less of wet 
and dirt, always contiguous to the trough, which freezes 
in winter, and becomes slippery. 

" Each yard is used for the deposit of refuse vegeta- 
bles and weeds, litter, etc., thrown in from time to 
time, to be consumed or converted into manure. This 
is conveniently loaded into a cart, passing along on the 
outside of each range of pens. 

" The passnge-way between each range of pens gives 
convenient access to the feeder for all the divisions. A 
door also communicates from one division to the other, to 
make changes when necessary ; and also a door, or gate, 
from each pen to the outside, so that one or more can be 
removed, and others introduced, without any confusion 
or interference from any of the other pens. The two 
pens under the main roof of the building, being more 
sheltered, are reserved for sows who may hap])en to far- 
row A'^ery early in the season, or in extreme cold weather, 
which is always avoided, if practicable. 

" For several reasons, the boiler for cooking food is in' a 
rough shed, adjacent to the piggery, and entirely outside 
of it. There is no reason why this should be necessarily 
a part of the piggery. 

" The above plan is not offered as embracing much that 



PIGGERIES AND PIG PENS. 



157 



,i(||!ll!ii,ir'ilii!li|.i![h^^^^^^^^^^ ■■■fl;(li/| 




l.jS HARRIS OX THE PIG. 

is novel in arrangement, but as one that combines many 
advantages — 

" 1st. Complete separation, as well as easy communica- 
tion between each pen, as well as to outside from each. 

" 2d. Avoiding close and confined air, and admitting of 
extension or alteration for a large or small number of pigs. 

" 3d. Facilities for keeping clean and receiving refuse 
vegetables and weeds, etc., for conversion into manure, 
and also for loading from each pen into a cart, passing 
alons: outside. 

" 4th. Cheapness. With the exception of the main 
building, all the rest can easily be erected by an intelli- 
gent farm hand." 

The illustrations (figs. 34, 35 and 36) were engraved for 
the American Agriculturist, from plans forwarded by Mr. 
Roseburgh, of Amboy, III. They were designed and con- 
strncted for use on his own premises, and have, there- 
fore, the merit of being the j^roduction of a practical man. 

Fig. 34 represents the elevation. The main building is 
22 by 50 feet, and the wing 12 by 16 feet. It is supj^lied 
with light and air by windows in front, ventilators on the 
roof, and by hanging doors or shutters in the upper part 
of the siding, at the rear of each stall or apartment — these 
last are not shown in the ensfravino;. 

Fig. 35 shows the ground plan. The main building has 
a hall, H^ 6 feet wide, running the entire length. This is 
for convenience of feedinix, and for hanfriiifr dressed hoofs 
at the time of slaughtering. The remainder of the space 
is divided by partitions into apartments, A^B, for the feed- 
ing and sleeping accommodation of the porkers ; these 
are each 8x16 feet. The rear division of each apartment, 
B, B, is intended for the manure yard. Each apartment 
has a door, Z>, 7>, to fiicilitate the removal of manure, and 
also to allow ingress to the swine when introduced to the 
pen. The floors of each two adjoining divisions are in- 
clined toward each other, so that the liquid excrements 



PIGGERIES AND PIG PENS. 



159 



and other filth may flow to the side where the opening to 
the back apartment is situated. Two troughs, /S, T, are 
placed in each feeding room. That in the front, S, is for 
food, and 7] for clear water, a full supply of which is al- 
ways allowed. This is an important item, generally over- 
looked ; much of the food of swine induces thirst, and 
the free use of water is favorable to the deposition of fat. 
An excellent arrangement (shown in fig. 36,) is adopted 


















M 




S 














T 


A 


A 










B 

D 
■ 1 


B 

D 
1 


1— 


\ 

S 1 


\ 

!— 


^ 1 



Fig. 35. — GROUND PLAN OF MR. ROSEBURGn'S PIGGERY. 



to facilitate the cleaning of the troughs, and the transfer- 
ring of the hogs to the main hall at slaughtering. The 
front partition of each apartment, J^ (fig. 36,) is made 
separate, and contrived so as to be swung back, and fas- 
tened over the inside of the trough, T, at feeding time, or 
when cleaning the trough. It may also be lifted as high 
as the top of the side partition, jff, when it is desired to 



IGO 



HARRIS ON THE PIG. 



take the Logs to the dressing table. Triangular pieces, 
E^ E^ are spiked to each front partition, and awing with 
it, forming stalls to prevent their crowding while feeding. 
These are supported, when the apartment is closed, by- 
notches in the inner edge of the trough, made to receive 
them. 

The wing, TPJ (fig. 35) is 12 by 16 feet. This answers for 
a slaughtering room. In one corner, adjoining the main 
hall, is a well and pump, 1\ from which, by means of a 




Fig. 36. — VIEW OF FRONT PARTITION. 

hose, water is convoyed to the troughs. At the opposite 
corner, K, is a large iron kettle, set in an arcli, for cook- 
ing food, and for scalding the slaughtered swine. We 
would suggest that, in many localities, it would be a de- 
sirable addition to have this wins: built two stories hig-h, 
the upper part to be used for storing grain for the hogs, 
and also that a cellar be made underneath for receiving 
roots. 

We give from the Americaii Agriculturist illustrations 
taken from the working drawings of a pig-house which 
has recently been built at Ogden Farm (Newport, R. I.). 
It is submitted to those of our readers who may con- 
template improvements of this sort. The building is 
24 X 32 feet, and cost (built of rough jDine battened, with 
cedar shingles on the roof) only $425, including the exca- 



PIGGERIES AND PIG PENS. 



161 



vation of the manure pits, and the boarding up of their 
sides. 

" Fig. 37, is the ground plan. There are four pens 8 x 10, 
two 6x10, and two 6x12. The troughs all open into the 
center area, and are opened by swing posts, which expose 
them to the attendant for cleansing or filling, or to the 
swine for feeding, as may be desired. The two large bins 
at the sides of the entrance door are filled with dry earth, 
with which the pigs are treated to the luxury of the earth- 




o7. — GKOUND FhAN OF OGDEN FAKM PIGGEKY. 



closet — to the great improvement of the air of the build- 
ing, and of the manure. The floors of the pens are made 
of 2-inch planks, 6 inches wide, laid with 1-inch openings 
between them, which secures the immediate passage of 
the urine to the pits below, and the gradual working 
through of the dry manure, mixed with earth. In the 
center of the open floor stands a Prindle steamer, whose 
7-inch smoke-pipe discharges into the middle of a 12-inch 
galvanized iron ventilator, whereby efiicient ventilation is 
secured. The food is cooked in pork-barrels, which may 



102 



HAEEIS OX THE PIG. 



be moved about at pleasure ; the flexible steam hose, with 
an iron nozzle, conveying the steam to the bottom of the 
barrel. Figure 38 is a cross section, showing the manure 




Fig. 38, — CROSS-SECTION OF OGDEN FAKM PIGGERY, 

pits, pens, etc. More than fifteen cords of manure can be 
stored in the pits, which are to be emptied through shut-, 
tered windows. Figure 39 is the front elevation of the 




Fig. 39, — FRONT ELEVATION OF OGDEN FARM PIGGERY. 

building, which is to have small yards at the sides, com- 
municating Avith the pens by slopes from the outer doors. 
This house will accommodate from thirty to forty shoats, 
or a corresponding number of breeding animals." 



PIGGERIES AND PIG PENS. 



163 



Mr. Geo. Mangles, a very extensive breeder and feeder 
of pigs in Yorkshire, England, has constructed a cheap 
and simple shed for fattening i^igs, engravings of which, 
taken from Mr. Sidney's edition of Youatt on the Pig, we 
annex. Mr. Mangles' description is as follows : 

" For feeding pigs the best arrangement is a covered 
shed (shown in figure 40), kept dark, with partitions 
to hold three pigs in each division, as feeding-pigs do 
not require much exercise. If the pigs be fed regu- 




Fig. 40. — MR. mangles' covered shed for fattening pigs. 

larly, and a little fresh bedding spread every day, the 
animals sleep and thrive very fast. The improvement 
they make in a warm, covered shed, with plenty of fresh 
air, is astonishing. A feeding-pig cannot be too warm, if 
he has plenty of fresh air. 

" I have had pigs fatten very fast upon latticed boards, 
with pits underneath for the droppings. The boards 
should be swept occasionally, and sawdust sprinkled over 




Fi^. 41. — MR. mangles' shed. — GROUND PLAN. 

them and swept through. This plan will only do for 
feeding-pigs (not for pigs for sale, breeding, or exhibition), 
as their houghs swell very much ; but young pigs always 
do better on boards than on stone floors. 

" The covered pig-shed (fig. 41), of w^hich a plan ac- 
companies this description, will hold about sixty pigs; the 



164: HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

roof is of light spars, covered with felt, but thin boards 
would be better and cheaper in the end. The pigs thrive 
in an extraordinary manner in this shed, which is divided 
into nineteen pens, of different sizes, some of which I find 
useful at lambing time to put ewes and lambs in at night." 

DESCRIPTION OF ISOMETRICAL PLAN OP PIG-SHEDS, (Fig. 
42,) SHOWING THE INTERNAL ARRANGEMENTS. 

" Length of shed, 60 feet ; breadth, 18 feet, inside ; 
height of walls {of hrich)^ 6 feet ; height of pens inside, 
3 feet, 6 inches ; thirty-three posts, 9 feet long, and 3 
inches square out of ground ; five posts, 5 feet long, by 
3 inches ; two strong posts for doors, 6 inches square. 

Pens. 

4 rails, 13 feet long, 3 inches by 1^ inches. 

8 " 9 " " ^ " 

14 " 8 feet, 4 in., " " 

8 " 7 feet " 

4 rails 6 '\ " " 

4 " 5 " " « 

600 poles, 3 feet 6 in. long, 3 in. by 1 inch. 

90 feet boards, 11 in. by 1 inch. 
150 boards for doors, 11 in. by 1 inch. 

" Wood-worJc for Roof — Three boards for the center, 
to nail rafters to, 20 feet long, 9 inches deejj, and 1 inch 
thick; sixteen rafters, 13 feet long, 3 inches by 2; 58 
rafters, 13 feet long, 3 inches by 1^ ; 120 feet of rails, 3 
inches by \\^ to lie on wall, to nail rafters to ; eight rails, 
20 feet long, 3 inches by 1^ ; ten lengths of felting, 
00 feet long; 1,660 feet boarding, required 11 inches 
broad. 

" There are air-holes in the brick walls to every pen, on 
one side ; on the side where the folding doors are set, 
there are four air-holes, and two holes for throwing the 
manure out. One end of the shed is boarded half way 



PIGGERIES AND PIG PENS. 



1G5 




^ 






166 



HARRIS ON THE PIG. 



up, the rest of it up to the point of the gables of ope 
palings ; the other end is boarded, and a large space is 
filled with Venetian blinds, or louvres. 

" The floor of the pens is of beaten soil ; a drain, 3 feet 
deep, filled with stones, leads to the liquid manure pit. 
The passage is laid with bricks, and the entrance is 
flagged, and a cart can be backed up to take the manure 
when the pig pens or pits are cleaned out. I generally 
let the pits get full of manure, and contrive to empty- 




Fig 43. — SECTION OF COVERED POOD HOUSE OF TATTENHALX, PIGGERY. 

them against the turnip season. They are soon emptied; 
it takes one hand more than the ordinary force for filling 
manure. 

" I whitewash the walls and partitions every year, aud 
the man keeps the passage swept and covered with saw- 
dust. My troughs are iron, with many divisions, and 
filled by hand from the passage. Each pit will liold five 
or six porkers, or three bacon pigs." 

One of the most elaborate piggeries in England is that 
at Tattenhall Hall, in Cheshire, forming a part of the 
model farm buildings on a dairy farm of 330 acres, in the 
occupation of Mr. George Jackson. The pig sheds are 
each six feet high, and tlie feeding troughs, and the pas- 
sage alongside them, are under cover. 

Figure 43 gives a section through the food-house, and 
figure 44 a ground plan of the arrangement. 

" The floors of the pig-yards and the pig-sheds are of 



PIGGERIES AND PIG PENS. 



1G7 



strong sandstone flags. The two near sheds are provided 
with doors, to keep them warm in cold weather, and with 
iron doors, fifteen inches square, set in the outer wall, for 
ventilation in hot weather. A joist is set on three sides, 
one foot from the wall, and one foot from the floor, to 




■pig, 44. — GROUND PLAN OF TATTENHALL PIGGERY. 

prevent mothers from overlaying their young. The ' out- 
lets,' or yards, are too small ; but we were cramped for 
space. The drains to all the liquid manure-tanks are 
trapped. 

" ' Whey,' says Mr. Jackson, ' forms the staple food of 
my pigs, the fatting ones getting a portion of Indian 



1G8 HARRIS OX THE PIG. 



1 



corn-meal and barley-meal, with, occasionally, in winter, 
roots.' 

" It will be seen that the food-house is the receptacle of 
these kinds of food. Tlie Windsor troughs, with swing 
doors, pusli back, and shut out the pigs while the solid 
food is put into the troughs, and one key locks up the 
whole. The whey is laid on to all the troughs from four 
large whey-cisterns in the buttery, and one hundred pigs 
are, all summer, daily fed with as many gallons of whey 
per meal, in one mimite^ hy simply lifting a valve. By 
this plan \9> pig -feeding made easy., and they get properly, 
instead of laboriously and irregularly, fed. The iron 
gates are provided for enabling to cleanse and straw the 
sties. The rain-water goes off by a drain, and the liquid 
manure passes to the ' tank,' from which it is drawn by 
drain, at pleasure, into a liquid manure cart, in the middle 
of a ten-acre meadow. The fowls are over the food-house, 
the floors of which are flags, but are equally adapted for 
boards." 

These plans are given merely for the purpose of fur- 
nishing useful hints. Each farmer must determine for himj 
self what kind of pig pens are best suited to his wants 
— to his location, system of feeding, etc. But whatever 
plan he may adopt, he should recollect that dryness, 
warmth, and good ventilation, are absolutely essential to 
the best success in pig feeding. 

There is one point in Mr. Mangles' plan that is worthy 
of consideration, and that is, the " beaten soil " for the 
floors of the pens, and the stone drain, three feet deep, 
under the pens, to carry the drainage to the liquid manure 
pit. Where such thorough drainage is provided, there 
can be no doubt that earth floors, beaten hard, answer a 
good purpose, and save much expense. When the floors 
are made of plank, they soon get worn in holes, and the 
liquid soaks through the joints ; and if not ultimately 
lost, we loose the use of it for several years, or until the 



SWILL BAEEELS, PIG TEOUGHS, ETC. 169 

pen needs a new floor, and the soil underneath is thrown 
out and replaced with fresh earth. With beaten clay 
floors, very little liquid will soak into tlie earth, and if it 
does, the plant-food which it contains would be absorbed 
near the surface, and, by scraping the floors, it would all 
find its way to the manure heap. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

SWILL BARRELS, PIG TROUGHS, ETC. 

In some convenient place, near the pig j)ens, there 
should be a receptacle for the wash from the house, milk, 
whey, waste vegetables, and other refuse. This is often 
nothing more than an old pork or cider barrel. It is dif- 
ficult to conceive of anything more inconvenient. It is 
too high^ and too circumscribed. A far more convenient 
and inexpensive arrangement is to make a tub out of two- 
inch pine planks — say six feet long, two feet and a half 
wide, and two feet, or two and a half or three feet high — 
according to the number of pigs kept. Or, what is better 
still, make such a tub out of plank twelve feet long, and 
have a partition in the middle. In this way you have 
two tubs in one. The food for the store pigs can be 
kept in one, and that for the fattening pigs in the other. 
In our own case, we find it desirable to have two such 
tubs, each twelve feet long, and divided in the middle.' 
Such tubs are often made flaring, being wider at the top 
than at the bottom. We do not think there is any ma- 
terial advantage in this, and it requires more skill to make 
the grooves fit true, and it is not so easy to furnish them 
with a tight-fitting cover. The latter is very desirable. 
It should be put on with hinges, and made of planed and 
8 



170 



HARRIS ON THE PIG. 



matched inch boards, and divided in the center of the 
|iub, so that one part may be closed while the other is 
open, if desired. 

At the house, a barrel should be j^laced in some con- 
venient place, for the reception of all dish-water and re- 
fuse. If this barrel is 
set on wheels, as shown 
in the engraving, fig. 45, 
copied from the Ameri- 
can Agriculturist, it can 
be easily conveyed to the 
pig pens, and emptied 
into one of the tubs 
above described. It 
should then be mixed 
with a little meal, and allowed to remain until the 
particles of meal become quite soft. It is then much 
more easily digested. If a slight fermentation takes 
place, by which the starch of the meal is converted into 
sugar, and a little of it into alcohol, the pigs appear to 
relish it all the better. A small amount of meal fed to 
store pigs in this manner, in summer, enables us to obtain 



H 




Fig. 45.— POKTABLE SWILL BARREL. 




ri;^-. 46.— HEWN-ouT pig trough. 

much more benefit from the milk, whey, and house wash 
than when fed alone. 

Every pig pen should be provided with two troughs- 
one for food, and the other for water. 

When wood is abundant, the commonest, and perhaps 



SWILL BARRELS, PIG TROUGHS, ETC. 



171 



the cheapest pig trough, is made by taking a log about 
fifteen inches in diameter, and, with an axe and adze, 
hewing out the inside. For out-door feeding, they are 
the most convenient troughs we are acquainted with, as 
they are not easily upset. 

When used for pigs confined to pens, the log should be 
hewn out in two divisions, one for food, and the other for 
water, as shown in fig. 46. A twelve-foot log will give 
about six fi?et of trough for food, and two and a half to 
three feet for water. 

A better and equally simple -pig trough is made from 
two-inch pine or hemlock planks. The planks should be 
from nine to fifteen inches wide, according to the size of 




Fig. 47. — PLANK PIG TROUGH. 

the pigs, and the number in a pen. The planks are 
nailed firmly together at right angles, with twenty- 
penny nails, put nine inches apart. There should be 
either two troughs for each pen, or the one trough should 
be divided into two compartments, one for water, and the 
other for food. The ends of the plank must be sawed off 
square and true, and a piece of plank nailed at each end, 
sufficiently tight to hold water. Such a trough is much 
more likely to leak at the ends than at the bottom, and 
great care should be taken to saw them off square, and 
nail them on tight. When both planks are the same 
width, the plank that is to be against the side of the pen, 
and fiirthest from the pigs should, in nailing, be placed on 
the other. This will make that side of the trough two 
inches higher than the one next the pigs, and they will 



172 



IIAEKIS ON THE PIG. 



be less likely to waste the food. The end pieces should 
project about four inches beyond the edge of the trough, 
as shown in fig. 47. This allows it to stand so firmly 
that the pigs will not be likely to upset it. 

Before being used, the troughs and the swill tub should 
be thoroughly saturated with petroleum. This will not 
only preserve the Avood, but do much to prevent it from 
warping, and the pigs will not be so likely to gnaw holes 
in the troughs. 

The American Agriculturist gives the following plans 
of pig troughs which allow the food to be distributed 
along the trough from the outside: 

*'The pens (fig. 48), being made of horizontal boards, 




Fig. 48. — A CONVENIENT PIG TROUGH. 

nailed to posts about 6 feet apart, the troughs are accu- 
rately fitted between two posts, so as to project a little 
outside the boarding, and the board above the trough is 
nailed on a little above it ; so that, when the edge is 
chamfered off" a little, any thing may be easily poured 
into it throughout its whole length. This arrangement 
admits of putting partitions, nailed to the pen above the 
trough, and to the floor, dividing the trough into narrow 



SWILL BARRELS, PIG TROUGHS, ETC. 



]73 



sections, so that each pig shall get only his share. The 
only objection to this form of trough is, that it must be 
cleaned out from inside the pen. 

" A modification of this arrangement may be made, the 
trough coming flush with the outside boarding, and the 
board above it being simply taken off and nailed on the 
inside of the posts, and stayed by a piece nailed perpen- 
dicularly, so as to stiffen and prevent its springing. 

" In figure 49 we show an old plan which, after all, is one 
of the very best contrivances for hog troughs. The 




Fig. 49.— SWINGING DOOR PIG TROUGH. 

trough is set projecting somewhat outside the pen, and 
placed as in the other pen, filling all the space between 
two posts. Over the trough is hung a swinging door or 
lid, some 3 feet wide, and as long as the trough. A 
wooden bolt is placed upon this lid, so that when it is 
swung back and bolted, the hogs are shut out completely 
from the trough ; and when it is swung out or forward 
and bolted, they have access to it again. This style of 
trough is very easily cleaned out. The lid may have iron 
rods, beat into a Y-shape, and having flattened ends, 



174 



HARRIS ON THE PIG. 



turned in opposite directions, screwed upon it, and so 
placed that they will entirely separate the hogs — when 
feeding. This contrivance is shown in fig. 50. Some ar- 
rangement of this kind will be found as great a conven- 




Fig. 50. — SWING DOOR WITH FENDERS. 

ience as it is an economy. The patented hog troughs 
are usually expensive, and no better, if so good. For our 
own use, we greatly prefer these simj^le fixtures, which 
may be easily made, renew^ed, or repaired, as occasion 
may require, with the common tools which every farmer 




CAST-IRON PIG TROUGH. 



should have and know how to use. Cast-iron pig troughs, 
of different patterns, are sold at the agricultural imple- 
ment stores. One of them is shown in fig. 51 ; the weight 
of the one figured is one hundred and ten pounds. 



MANAGEMEN^r OF PIGS, 175 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

MANAGEMENT OF PIGS. 

The object of keeping pigs differs in different places 
and circumstances. The dairy farmer keeps pigs princi- 
pally for the purpose of turning his whey and skimmed 
milk to good account. The grain-growing farmers, in the 
older settled parts of the country, keep pigs to consume 
the slops of the house, and to pick up scattered grain 
around the barns and on the stubbles, and to consume, 
and turn into pork, small potatoes, and many other arti- 
cles that would otherwise be wasted. At the West, where 
corn is cheap, and the expense of sending it to market 
very great, pigs are kept for the purpose of " packing 
fourteen bushels of corn into a three-bushel barrel." In 
the vicinity of the Atlantic cities, pigs are kept, or might 
be kept, for the purpose of manufacturing out of pur- 
chased food, nice, fresh pork, and rich, valuable manure. 
And, indeed, in all sections where pigs are kept, the value 
of the manure should be taken into consideration. 

PIGS ON DAIRY FARMS. 

There is no other food on which young pigs thrive so 
well as on skimmed milk and Indian meal. Pigs are also 
very fond of whey, and do well on it provided they have 
a liberal allowance of pea-meal and Indian meal fed Avith 
it. To keep pigs on whey alone is a great waste of food 
and time. On skimmed milk, and the run of a clover 
pasture, a well-bred, young pig, will grow rapidly ; but 
even in this case a little corn-meal could be fed with very 
decided economy and advantage. The oil and starch of 
the corn restore to the skimmed milk the fat-forming 
material which has been removed in the butter, and, in 
effect, convert it into new milk again. But it is very de- 



176 HARiaS ON THE PIG. 



sirable that the meal should be cooked by pouring upon 
it boiling water, and stirring it carefully until it is made 
into " pudiling." In the dairy there is usually much hot 
water thrown away, which might be used for this purpose, 
without cost, and with little labor. 

Since the introduction of cheese factories, dairy farmers 
cannot keep as many pigs through the summer as former- 
ly, but early in the spring, before the factories commence 
operations, the milk is used at home ; and it is well to 
have some litters of young pigs, which can be sold to 
good advantage soon after weaning. The sows can be 
summered on grass and on the slops of the house, and an- 
other litter would be obtained in the fall. When cows 
are well wintered, and fed on more or less grain or oil- 
cake, then fall pigs can be kept through the winter in 
good condition at very slight expense, and they will be 
valuable to sell to the factories or other feeders the next 
summer. Usually, this system will pay better than at- 
tempting to fatten them at home. 

PIGS ON GRAIN FARMS. 

On farms where much grain is grown, and only a few 
cows are kept, it is usually not profitable to keep a large 
stock of pigs. The common mistake made, however, is 
not in keeping too many, but in not feeding tliem liberal- 
ly. As a rule, the pigs are kept on short allowance until 
they are shut up to fatten, after the corn is ripe, although 
there can be no doubt that a bushel of corn, fed to pigs 
while on clover during the summer, will produce double 
or treble as much pork as a bushel of new corn fed in 
cool weather, in the autumn, when the pigs have nothing 
but corn. A few fall pigs can be kept in the yards dur- 
ing the winter to good advantage, especially if the cattle 
are fed grain. But it is a great mistake to stint young 
pigs through the winter, although it must be confessed 



^ 



MANAGEMENT OF PIGS. 177 

that it is a very common one. The sows, and any spring 
pigs that may be wintered over, will pick up the lion's 
share of the scattered grain and other food in the yards ; 
and while it is often inconvenient to separate the young 
pigs from ttie older ones, yet it is not a difficult matter to 
make a hole in one of the sides of the pens that will ad- 
mit the young pigs through, and exclude the large ones, 
and in this way the young pigs can be fed more and bet- 
ter food This is a very important point. The young 
pigs should be kept growing rapidly through the winter 
and spring months. They should be in a condition that 
most farmers would pronounce " too fat." Young, well- 
bred pigs, so wintered, can be summered in a clover pas- 
ture at comparatively little cost, and it is astonishing how 
fast they will grow. We have kept a lot of grade Essex 
fall pigs during the summer on a rich clover pasture near 
the barn-yard, and the slop from the house, without any 
grain, that were sold at an extra price on the first of Oc- 
tober, to " top-off" a car load of fat pigs sent to the New 
York market. And the whole secret of the matter, if se- 
cret it is, was in feeding the young pigs liberally through 
the winter. 

Few things would pay a grain growing farmer better 
than to raise peas for his pigs. No matter how " buggy" 
the peas may be, the bugs or beetles remain in the peas 
until about the first of November ; and when the peas are 
fed out before this time, the pigs Avill eat peas and bugs 
together, and there will be little loss. Nothing makes 
firmer or better pork and lard than peas, and the manure 
from pea-fed pigs is exceedingly rich. A heavy crop of 
peas, too, is a capital crop to precede winter wheat. They 
will smother the weeds, and, if sown early, are off the 
land in good season to allow thorough working of the 
land before wheat sowing. If other food is scarce, a few 
of the peas may be cut in June, as soon as the pods are 
formed, and fed green to the pigs, and a daily allowance 
8* 



178 HARRIS OX THE PIG. 

may be fed until the peas are fully ripe. In fact, many 
farmers feed all their peas to the pigs Avithout thrashing. 
But this is a wasteful plan. When the peas are ripe, 
pigs will do much better on them cooked, or at least 
soaked in water for twenty-four hours before feedinc^. 
And in addition to this advantage, pea straw, when well 
cured and carefully harvested, is nearly as good for sheep 
as clover hay, and certainly will much more than pay the 
expense of thrashing. A large farmer in Michigan, who 
has made himself and his farm rich, attributes his success 
principally to growing a large quantity of peas every 
year, and feeding them to pigs. He thrashes the peas, 
and cooks them, but does not grind them, as he thinks 
cooking is better and cheaper than grinding. The manure 
from his pea-fed pigs has made his farm one of the most 
productive in the State. 

FATTENING PIGS NEAR LARGE CITIES. 

Nurserymen, seed growers, and market gardeners near 
our large cities require great quantities of manure. Hith- 
erto they have obtained it from the horse and cow stables 
in the city, but the demand is greater than the supply, 
and the price is so high that many are looking to other 
sources for manure. In Rochester, the price of manure 
from the stables is $1.25 per load, and by the time it is 
well rotted, it requires three loads of fresh manure, as 
drawn, to make one load of rotted manure, as applied to 
the land. This, added to the expense of drawing, brings 
the cost of the manure up to about $100 per acre. In 
Geneva, N. Y., where the nursery business is carried on 
very extensively, the price of manure is even higher still, 
or $1.50 per load at the stables. And there, as well as at 
Rochester, some of the nurserymen are turning their at- 
tention to fattening sheep in winter for the purpose of 
obtaining cheaper and better manure. The result, so far, 



MANAGEMENT OF PIGS. 179 

has been eminently satisfactory where the nurserymen 
have land enough to raise their own clover hay. 

But where land is very high, and where, consequently, 
it will not i^ay to raise clover hay, some other system 
must be adopted. Pig feeding would seem to offer the 
best prospects of producing the richest manure at the 
least cost. 

For this purpose, the first requisite is a good breed of 
pigs, that will mature early, and fatten at any age, so that 
they could be disposed of at any time when choice fresh 
pork was in demand, at good prices. Unfortunately, such 
pigs are difficult to find, and will continue very scarce 
until fu'mers learn the importance of using none but 
thorough-bred boars, of a highly refined breed, with 
properly selected common sows. With young pigs, so 
bred, we have no doubt that the system of feeding pigs 
on 23urchased food might be profitably adopted near our 
large cities. Certainly, manure could be obtained in this 
way at far less cost, in proportion to its value, than is now 
generally paid for it. A study of the table on page 139, 
showing the value of manure from different foods, and an 
examination of the results of Lawes' and Gilbert's experi- 
ments in feeding pigs Avith different foods, showing what 
kinds produce the greatest increase, w^ill enable any one 
to select feeding stuffs w^ith judgment and economy. 
Three things have to be considered : the cost of the food ; 
its feeding value, and tlie value of the manure obtained 
from its consumption. We have given all the data nec- 
essary to enable any intelligent man to engage in this 
business with confidence and success. If there is any 
error, it is on the safe side, for we are satisfied, from our 
own experience, that well-bred pigs can be so fed as to 
give a greater increase from the food consumed than was 
obtained in Mr. Lawes' experiments, when no special at- 
tention was paid to the breed. In this connection some 
useful hints may be obtained from the following chapter. 



180 



HAERIS ON THE PIG. 




ENGLISH EXPERIENCE IN PIG FEEDING. 181 

CHAPTER XIX. 

ENGLISH EXPERIENCE IN PIG FEEDING. 

In some respects, the farmers of England and the farm- 
ers of the Middle and Eastern States are similarly situa- 
ted. England does not raise scarcely half as much wheat 
as is needed by her population, and the same is true of 
our Middle States; while in New England, enough wheat 
is not raised to support one-tentli of the population. 
Eno-lish farmers are thrown into direct competition with 
the produce of all other countries, and the farmers of 
New England and the Middle States have to compete 
with the produce of the Western States. Prices depend 
less on the home crop than on the yield in those countries 
from which the principal supply is derived. A poor crop 
at home is not necessarily compensated by higher prices. 
And, therefore, it is particularly important to guard as 
much as possible against poor crops from unprojntious 
seasons. High farming is found to be the best safeguard. 
But high farming not only requires tlioroughly drained 
and well tilled land, but abundance of manure. English 
farmers must compete with the cheap land of our West- 
ern States, and also with the cheap labor of Ireland and 
the continent. But, in spite of all this, they continue 
more prosperous, as a whole, than the farmers of any 
other country. 

We cannot adopt the English system of agriculture, 
but the principles on which it rests are as applicable here 
as there. What the farmers of New England and the 
Middle States require, is more ca[)ital, more labor, and 
more manure. And, in many places, manure can be ob- 
tained cheaper and better from feeding well-bred pigs 
than in any other way. Tliis, at any rate, has been the 
experience of many English farmers, and the prospects 



182 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

are still more favorable in the New England and other 
Atlantic States, because food is cheaper than it is in Eng- 
land, and the laige cities are not as well supplied with 
choice fresh pork as are those of England, and conse- 
quently it brings, or would bring, if it could be obtained, 
a relatively higher price, as compared with beef, mutton, 
and barreled pork. 

In 1862, Mr. Baldwin, of Breton House, near Birming- 
ham, delivered a lecture before the Worcestershire Agri- 
cultural Society on the breeding and feeding of pigs, in 
which he said : 

" In 1845, he entered upon a farm at Kingsnorton. In 
1846, he purchased two gilts and a boar, of the TamAVorth 
breed, and altliough he began breeding with only three 
pigs in 1846, in 1851 he sold £1,000, say |5,000, worth 
of store and fat pigs within one year ; and in the years 
1852, 1853, 1854, and 1855, he sold about £1,000 worth 
each year. The idea of feeding such numbers of pigs 
was first conceived by him at a county meeting at Wor- 
cester, in 1849, after free trade had come into full opera- 
tion. One of the speakers produced many samples of 
foreign produce at amazingly low prices. Among tliem 
was a good sample of Egyptian beans, at 9^. and 9^^. Q>d. 
per bag ; Indian corn at the same price, and Dantzic 
wheat, also, very low. ' Gentlemen,' exclaimed the speak- 
er, ' can you grow them at these prices ?' He (Mr. 
Baldwin) looked on the bright side of the question, and 
began to ask himself how he might turn the low price of 
grain to good account. It struck him that, as he had a 
great many store pigs, he would feed them instead of 
selling them as stores. He accordingly bought a large 
quantity of Indian corn, at from 95. to 9^. 6t7. per bag, 
[200 lbs.], to begin with; and within two years and a 
quarter from that time, he bred, feci, and sold £2,000 worth 
of pigs, and cleared, after paying all expenses, £500, be- 



ENGLISH EXPERIENCE IN PIG FEEDING. 183 

sides making a vast amount of manure, wliich he consid- 
ered far better than guano, because more durable. 

" The plan which he adopted in breeding was, to put 
the sows to the boar in November, and pick the breeders 
principally from the earliest pigs, when he got his stock 
np to about forty breeding sows. In picking the breed- 
ers, he used to pick them several times over, as it fre- 
quently hapi^ened that those which looked the best and 
prettiest when young, altered considerably when they 
got three, four, and five months old. The rule was to 
pick long-growing pigs, and those that were straight and 
thick through the shoulder and heart, and experience had 
convinced him that his method of choosing was a correct 
one. He always kept to the Tamworth breeds, generally 
purchasing the boars, but breeding the sows. If he foimd 
the pigs getting too fine, he purchased a good strong 
boar, and if the animals exhibited tendencies the other 
way, he picked a boar of good, small bone, but was al- 
ways particular to select a boar that was thick through 
the shoulder and heart, and a straight-growing pig, of the 
same color and breed. By carefully following this plan, 
he got the breed so good, that it was a rare occurrence to 
see even a middling pig in all the herd, though he bred 
from 250 to 300 each year. His plan of keeping was as 
follows : As soon as the sows littered, they were kept 
on kibbled [crushed] oats, scalded, Avith raw Swedes or 
cabbage; and when the pigs got to the age of three 
weeks or a month, he turned the sows out from them for 
a short time every day, and gave the pigs a few peas or 
Indian corn while the sow was away. When the weather 
was fine and warm, the pigs went out with the mother 
into a grassy field for a short time. He found that young 
pigs, from the age of three weeks, required dirt or grit ; 
and, therefore, if the weather was bad, and they could 
not be turned out, it was necessary to put some grit into 
the sty. This was quite important, as he believed it was 



184 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

necessary for the proper digestion of their food. He had 
had young pigs looking very bad and drooping, but when 
turned out, that they might get dirt, they soon became 
all right again. In fact, it was absolutely necessary, dur- 
ing the whole life of a pig, to allow it an opportunity of 
getting grit or dirt, or it would not thrive well. 

" At seven or eight weeks old, all the pigs he did not 
require for breeding he had cut, and began to wean them 
a fortnight afterwards. He then turned them into a grass 
field, with a hovel for them to run into, and allowed each 
pig a quart per day of peas, Egyptian beans, or Indian 
corn. He gave them one pint of the corn in the morning, 
and the other in the evening, with regularity as to time 
and quantity, and found it better to give it them on the 
grass, in a clean place, each time, than in a trough, as it 
prevented quarreling, and each pig got his share. With 
this quart of corn per day, and what grass they got dur- 
ing the seven months of the year, with nothing but water 
to drink, the pigs would, on the average, make 5 lbs. of 
pork, each, per Aveek. After eight months, he allowed an 
extra half pint of corn per day. At the present price of 
corn (1862), the allowance would cost about Is. per week 
[24 cents], for each pig ; grass, 4 cents ; attention of man, 
2 cents ; total cost. Is. Sd. (30 cents), leaving a profit of 
24 cents per week on each pig, when pork was 12 cents 
per pound ; it was now 14 cents. 

" One man attended — well, to from 200 to 300 pigs ; he 
was an Irishman, for few Englishmen liked the job suf- 
ficiently well to take an interest in them, and carelessness 
on the part of tlie man materially decreased the profits. 

*' He kept the store sows, when with pig, the same as 
the other stores. They ran about in a field until a fort- 
night before pigging, when he placed them in a covered 
shed, so constructed as to admit as much sun as possible. 
Young pigs, kept in the manner described, were always 
nearly fat enough for porkers, and did not require more 



ENGLISH EXPERIENCE IN PIG FEEDING. 185 

than two or three weeks feeding on meal. It was time 
enough to begin to feed pigs for bacon at eight or ten 
months okl. Good breeding sows he allowed to have 
two farrows, and sometimes three, but never more, and 
then fed them for bacon, supplying their places with 
young sows. 

" In selling store pigs, he charged a certain price per 
pound, and allowed the purchaser to j^ick the pigs from 
the field, which plan always gave satisfaction, and secured 
a return of custom. It was desirable, in breeding ani- 
mals, to have as little bone as possible, in proportion to 
flesh. He had tested a cut sow of his breed, which 
weighed 640 lbs., and the whole of the bones, after the 
flesh had been boiled from them, weighed only 21 lbs., so 
that for every pound of bones there was 32 lbs. of meat. 
His 2)igs made 1 lb. of flesh for every 4 lbs. of good In- 
dian corn, barley or pea-meal ; as a rule, he preferred the 
Indian corn. He considered it always to be more profita- 
ble to feed good food than upon that of inferior quality. 
As a rule, pigs would thrive better for being turned out 
once a day, except in wet weather, and would also be 
healthier, more active, and have a cleaner appearance. 
One of the greatest pleasures his breeding afibrded him 
was to see the number of laboring men who came to buy 
from him, and he hoped to live to see the day when every 
laboring man would have a good pig in his sty." 

Mr. Baldwin's experience is the more valuable, as he 
seems to keep pigs to sell to the butcher, or to those who 
intended to fatten them. His success is not due to selling 
thorough-bred pigs at high prices for breeding purposes. 

A Yorksliire farmer, who occupies 280 acres of land, 
half under plow, and half in grass, and who raises and 
feeds a large number of the small Yorkshire and Cum- 
berland breed of pigs, writes Mr. Sidney as follows : 

" I am a farmer, and I keep pigs for profit, and I have 
no stock that pays like them ; but I have found a surpris- 



186 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 



^ 



ing difference in the feeding qualities of the different 
breeds, and I am not astonished at farmers saying pigs 
will not i^ay. I think the medium size pay better than 
the large bacon hogs. For eleven years I have kept an 
account of all my pigs cost, and what I sell, and at the 
year's end I know the truth. * * I spend $3,500 a 
year for purchased food, but little on any manure, except 
lime and salt. I make all the manure I can, and make it 
good. I calculate I get my pig manure free, but not my 
cattle manure. For the first fortnight the little pigs live 
upon the sow's milk. Then they will begin to eat a little 
dry wheat. As soon as they begin to eat freely, have a 
place where they can creep to feed, where the sow cannot 
get at their meat ; and feed them separately, twice a day, 
with milk, meal, and bran, and once a day with dry wheat. 
But beware of over-feeding them, or any young animals. 
At six weeks old, the boar pigs are usually castrated, and 
at eight weeks old, the litter may be weaned by taking 
away the sow by degrees. But if the sow is not wanted 
to breed again directly, and you want to forward your 
pigs, it is a good plan to let them be with the sow, at 
night only, until they are twelve weeks old, and then they 
ought to be in very good condition. 

" After twelve weeks, the treatment will depend upon 
what they are wanted for. If to be made the best of, 
feed them for the next twelve weeks on boiled meal, vege- 
tables, and a little bran — two feeds a day — keeping about 
six together in a sty, warm, and well bedded. Keep 
them on cooked food^ and a little meal every day, until 
within six weeks of being killed, when they should have 
as much barley-meal and water as they can eat. It is a 
waste of money to give them raw meal all the time, but 
they should always be gaining until the slaughtering day 
— to go back is a loss." 

It would seem that the plan this farmer adopts, or at 
least that which he considers best, varying in j^ractice 



ENGLISH EXPERIENCE IN PIG FEEDING. 18T 

probably with the demand for fresh pork, is to push his 
pigs forward as rapidly as possible, and sell them when 
six months old. And this is the system which, in the 
neighborhood of our large cities, we believe, will be found 
the most profitable in the United States. For this pur- 
pose we unquestionably require pigs of some of the small 
breeds, that will mature early. 

A dairy farmer, who keeps Berkshire pigs, says : " My 
stores, farrowed in March, are fatted oiT by December, 
making from ten to twelve score, althougli I have often 
had them much heavier. Pigs of this weight are always 
more salable in tlie London Newgate Market, at sixpence 
or a shilling a score more tlian heavier ones. I have 
grown a pig of the Berkshire breed over 40 score (800 lbs). 

" Second litters, coming in about December, at three 
months old, will do for pork. The sow will then be in 
again in March or April. 

" The whey runs from my dairy into a vault near the 
piggery, in which I have large bins to mix the whey and 
meal together, allowing it to ferment for three days before 
using it. If I am well off for roots, I have a good quan- 
tity pressed, steamed, and minced with whey and barley- 
meal. In the winter, a few beans or lentils, ground. If 
convenient^ give warm food. Have not more than six 
pigs together. Warm sties, clean, and the pigs well 
groomed with brush and linseed oil, which will cleanse 
the skin, and kill the lice with Avhich they are often an- 
noyed." 

Another pig feeder recommends pulping roots, leaving 
them to ferment for thirty-six hours, and then mixing the 
pulp, by alternate spadefuls, with meal. This he thinks 
as good as cooking, and much cheaper. 

He does not mention the kind of roots used, but man- 
gel wurzel, beets, and parsnips, are best adapted to our 
climate and circumstances. With rich land, and good 
culture, a large amount of nutritious food can be obtained 



1S8 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

per acre, and feeding them out to pigs, with meal, will 
make very rich manure, and thus we obtain the means to 
raise more food, and keep on increasing the productive- 
ness of the land. 

A Yorkshire pig breeder says : " I have had a great 
many York-Cumberland pigs that gained — 

7 lbs. each, per week, u^ to ten weeks old. 
10 lbs. per week for the next seven weeks. 
14 lbs. per week until they weighed 23 stone. 

*' I can put on 18 lbs. a week until a certain time, and 
then they begin to put on less and less every day, until 
at last you feed at a loss. The pig should be killed when 
the point of profit for daily food is turned. For this 
reason the pig should be weighed weekly. 

" After trying nearly all the different kinds of cereals, 
and weighing my pigs once every fourteen days, I have 
come to the conclusion, if you want to gain weight fast, 
give plenty of barley-meal and milk ; if you icant to 
make the most of the food consumed, give boiled vegeta- 
bles and boiled meal, and finish off with raw meal. 

" On the first plan, time is saved at the^^expense of food 
consumed. On the second plan, time is lost, and the 
food saved." 

If by "food " is meant 7neal, the statement is probably 
correct ; but that we ever save food, absolutely, by feed- 
ing slowly, is a proposition that has never been proved, 
and is contrary to sound theory and the general experi- 
ence of the best feeders. A fittenino- animal should cer- 
tainly have all the food it can digest and assimilate. To 
keep him on short allowance is to waste both time and 
food. 

Another correspondent of Mr. Sidney writes : " With 
tolerably good land, and no lack of capital, a farmer can- 
not do better than cultivate white crops alternately, and, 
with a moderate dairy, confine his stock exclusively to 
pigs. Let him consume his oats, sell off both wheat and 



ENGLISH EXPERIENCE IN PIG FEEDING. 189 

barley, and buy Indian corn and bran. Indian corn is 
about the same price as barley, but sixty, instead of fifty- 
two pounds to the bushel. A bushel of barley-meal is 
generally supposed to add 10 lbs. to the weight of a pig. 
I have found, in my latest experiments, that a bushel of 
Indian corn produced an increased weight to a -pig of 
15 lbs. 

" Indian corn," says Dr. Yoelcker, " is richer in fat- 
forming matters than almost any other description of 
food. The ready-made fat in corn amounts to from five 
and a half to six per cent. But animals should not be 
fed exclusively on Indian corn, because the flesh-forming 
matter in it is small. Bean-meal [or pea-meal] supplies 
the deficiency. Five pounds of Indian corn, ground or 
crushed, to one pound of bean-meal [or pea-meal], is a 
mixture which contains the proportions of flesh-forming 
and fattening matters nicely balanced." 

Another Yorkshire farmer writes : "We are now (1860) 
fattening pigs on wheat costing |1.20 per bushel [in gold], 
which, as large bacon pigs are selling at 12 cents per 
pound, leaves a handsome profit for fattening, even at the 
present high price of stores. 

*' But," he adds, '' the farmer who is wise, will keep 
both these profits in his own hands. He will rear his own 
stores, and grind up his own grain for feeding them. If 
he wants pigs to pay, he does not starve them for twelve 
to eighteen months, leaving them to roam about the fields, 
consuming as much food among twenty as would feed 
thirty, rooting and turning over a fold-yard dung heap ; 
but he finds, with the corn, that it will cost him in money 
half its feeding value, and gets the manure into the 
bargain. 

'* A well managed pig-feeding establishment, near any 
great town, ought to pay in times of low-priced grain. 
Unlike beef and mutton, every inch of a pig is in demand, 
and the ofials are sold at good prices as dainty bits." 



190 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

We might quote much other evidence of a like charac- 
ter, but the above is sufficient to sbow that the English 
farmers can send to the United States for Indian corn, pay- 
freight, commission, and expenses, and then use it at a 
profit in fattening pigs, which are sold at prices no higher 
than the same quality of pork brings in New York, Bos- 
ton, or Philadelphia. Cannot we do the same thing here ? 
Let those who undertake it, however, remember that the 
demand is for choice, fine-boned, well-fatted pigs, of the 
best quality. Such pigs would bring from three to five 
cents per pound more than common hogs, and this, iu 
itself, is a large profit. 



CHAPTER XX. 

LIVE AND DEAD WEIGHT OF PIGS. 

The three grade Essex pigs (Nos. 3, 4, and 5) in Dr. 
Miles' experiments at the Michigan Agricultural College, 
previously alluded to (see page 118), were killed when 31 
weeks old. Their live and dressed weights were as follows: 

Live. Dressed. Dressed to Live Weight. 

Per cent. 

No. 3 13514 1121^ 83 

4 156 13214 85 nearly. 

5 1451^ 1:22 SSU 

The live weight was taken before fasting/. For such 
small pigs, this shows a very high proportion of dressed 
to live weight. 

An Essex pig, about fifteen months old, belonging to 
the writer, weighed, after sticking, 445 lbs., and dressed, 
as weighed the next day by the butcher, 409 lbs. — a 
shrinkage of only a little over 8 per cent. Allowing 10 
lbs. for the blood, the pig would have weighed, alive, 455 
lbs., and dressed nearly 90 per cent. 



LIVE AND DEAD WEIGHT OF PIGS. 191 

We have no doubt that a highly refined pig of any of 
the small breeds, well fed during its whole growth, and 
thoroughly fattened, will shrink less than 10 per cent on 
its fasted live weio-ht, 

Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert accurately ascertained the 
live and dead weight of the fifty-nine pigs on which their 
experiments, previously alluded to, were made. The ac- 
tual, average live weight, after fasting, of the whole fifty- 
nine pigs, was 212^ |^ lbs., and the average dressed weight, 
176 lbs., 5.3 oz., or a little over 82' 1^ per cent. 

The following table shoves the actual average weight of 
the different parts of these fifty-nine pigs, and in the 
right-hand column we give the per centage weights : 

TABLE SHOWING THE WEIGIiT OF DIFFERENT PARTS OF A PIG 
WEIGHING, ALIVE, ^n^i lbs. (AVERAGE OF 59 PIGS.) 

Actual weight. Per cent. 

Stomach and contents 2 lbs., 10.4 oz. 1.28 

Caulfat 1 " 2.3" .54 

Small intestines and contents 4 " 8.4" 2.20 

Large " " " 8 " 5.7" 4.04 

Intestinal fat 2 " 5.6" 1.06 

Heart and Aorta " 9.6" 0.29 

Lungs and Windpipe 1 " 9.1" 0.76 

Blood 7 " 10.1" 3.63 

Liver 3 " 4.5" 1.57 

Gall-bladder and contents " 2.1 " 0.06 

Pancreas ("sweetbread'') " 6.0" 0.19 

Milt, or Spleen " 4.7 " 0.14 

Bladder 0" 2.5" 0.08 

Penis 0" 7.1" 0.21 

Tongue 1 " 0.2" 0.48 

Toes ~. " 2.9-^' 0.08 

Miscellaneous trimmings " 8.8" 0.26 

Total offal parts .35 " 4.6" 16.87 

Carcass 1^6 '' 5.3^^' 82.57 

Loss by evaporation, etc 1 " 2.1 " 0.56 

Live weight after fasting 212 12 " 100.00 

For the sake of comparison, we may say that the 
average, of 249 sheep, killed at Rothamstead, by Messrs. 
Lawes and Gilbert, was, fasted live weight, 153 lbs., 10.2 
oz. ; Carcass, 91 lbs., 12'|2 oz. ; Per centage of carcass to 



192 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

live weight, 59' |^. The sheep were Cotswolds, Leicesters 
Hampshire and Sussex Downs. 

The mean fasted live weight of 16 heifers and steers, 
killed and slaughtered at Rothamstead, was 1,141 lbs. ; 
Carcass, 680^ |^ lbs. ; Per centage of carcass to live weight, 
59.31. In other words — 

A moderately fat heifer or steer will dress 59^ per cent. 

A moderately fat mutton sheep will dress 59^ " " 

A moderately fat pig will dress 82]/^ '* " 

The lis^htest of Mr. Lawes' half-fattened and fattened 
pigs dressed a little less than 74 per cent, and the heavi- 
est over 87^ |^ per cent. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

BREEDING AND REARING PIGS. 

The point of first importance in breeding pigs is the 
selection of the boar. In raising thoroiigh-bred pigs, of 
course Ave must have a boar of the same breed as the sow. 
This remark may seem superfluous, but we have met with 
ordinarily intelligent men who thought that a boar, de- 
scended from a thorough-bred Cheshire sow, got by a 
thorough-bred Chester White boar, was thorough-bred. 
And we have known a farmer who put a Chester White 
sow to an Essex boar, speak of all the white pigs in the 
litter as Chester Whites, and all the black ones as Essex. 
Thorough-breds must be descended from thorough-breds, 
and both parents must be of the same breed. 

But in raising pigs for the butcher, we are not confined 
to any particular breed. Our selection of the boar must 
be made in reference to whether the pigs are to be fatted 
and sold at a few months old for fresh pork, or whether 



BREEDING AND REARING PIGS. 193 

they are to be kept until they have nearly attained their 
growth before being fattened. Reference must also be 
liad as to whether we wish large hogs;, or smaller and 
finer ones at a less age. Much, too, will depend upon 
the sow we wish to breed from. 

Defective as the majority of our pigs are, there are, 
nevertheless, few sections where we cannot find some 
strong, vigorous sows, of good size, suitable for crossing 
with the improved breeds. This is especially true where 
the Chester County pigs have been introduced. We could 
not ask for better sows to start with than a grade Chester 
County sow. It is an easy matter to find strong, vigor- 
ous sows, of good size, in any neighborhood where the 
Chester County or similar large breeds have been intro- 
duced. 

If a farmer wishes to keep hogs until they are from 
fourteen to eighteen months old, letting them run in the 
barn-yard the first winter, and in a clover pasture and 
stubbles the next summer, and to be fattened in the fall, 
he cannot go wrong in selecting a large, vigorous, some- 
what coarse sow, showing more or less Chester County 
blood. Then put her to either an Essex, Berkshire, Sufiblk, 
or Small or Medium Yorkshire boar. We think it mat- 
ters comparatively little which of these breeds is used, 
provided, always, that they are good specimens of the 
breed, and are thorough-hred. Better pay five dollars for 
the use of a thorough-bred than accept the service of a 
grade or common boar for nothing. 

If the sow has had pigs, say the middle of March, they 
may be weaned in six weeks ; and if the sow has been 
properly fed, she will take the boar in a few days after 
the pigs are weaned. We should then get one litter of — 
say grade Essex — about the first of September. The 
sow, during the summer, should, if possible, have the 
run of a clover pasture ; and, if she is not in good, thriving 
condition, with this, and the wash or milk from the house, 
9 



194 HARRIS ON- THE PIG. 

throw licr two or three ears of com a day. She should 
not be too fat, but there is not one farmer in a thousand 
who ever falls into this error. Let her have plenty of 
exercise, and if she is fully half fat by the time she comes 
in, all the better. If she is a good mother, nearly all her 
accumulated fit will find its way to the little ones in the 
milk before they are six weeks old. 

For two or three weeks before she is expected to far- 
row, let the sow be put in a pen by herself at night, so 
that she may become accustomed to it. She may be al- 
lowed to run out during the day, but should always be 
fed separately in the pen, and in this way she will soon 
come to regard the pen as her own, and will go in as soon 
as the door is open. Let no harsh word be spoken, or a 
kick or a blow, on any provocation, be resorted to. 

The pen should have a rail around the side, about 
six inches from the floor, and eight or ten inches from the 
sides of the pen, so that if she makes her bed near the 
sides of the pen, as she almost invariably will, tlie rail 
will afford a space for the little ones to slip under, and 
thus prevent their being crushed against the sides of the 
pen. As, at this season, the Aveather is warm, she will 
need but little straw. The better plan is to put two or 
three times as much straw as is needed into the pen a 
week or ten days before she is expected to pig. By lying 
on it she will make it soft, and this is very desirable. If 
any of it becomes wet or dirty, remove it from time to 
time when the sow is oat. As the time approaches, she 
will select a particular spot, and " make a bed." When 
she is eating, or out of the pen, examine the bed, and see 
that the sides are not too hard, or compacted together too 
closely, and that they are not more than four or five 
inches high ; if so, remove a little of the straw. It is 
better to have too little than too much. After this, the 
sow should be left to herself With gentle thorough- 
breds, that are accustomed to being petted, we keep a 



BREEDING AND EEARING PIGS. 195 

close watch during siicli an interesting event, rendering 
assistance if necessary; but, as a rule, and especially 
with common pigs, it is far better to trust to nature, 
and let things take their course. At this season of 
tlie year, especially if the sow has had the run of a 
pasture, and is in a thrifty conditioij^-there will seldom 
be any trouble. The little pigs will come strong, and 
commence to suck in a minute or two after they are born. 
On no account disturb the sow until all is over. This 
may be two hours, and sometimes longer. Do not be in 
any hurry to feed her. But when she gets up, let her 
have all the milk or slop that she will drink. It is better 
to watch her, and keep pouring it into the trough as long 
as she will drink it up clean. Let her have all she can 
drink, but leave none in the trough. We are aware that 
these directions are not in accordance with the general 
rules on this subject. There are those who think that the 
sow should be kept on short allowance, so that she may 
be wide-awake, and quick to hear the scream of any of 
the little ones she may be lying on. This is all very well, 
but the chief danger occurs from the sow getting up and 
lying down again ; and if she has a good meal, and eats 
it all up clean, she will be more likely to lie still during 
the night than if she is hungry. After she has eaten, and 
when she goes back to her bed, you will be there to hear 
if she lies on any of the pigs, and can go to the rescue. 
When she has once lain down, there is little danger until 
she gets up again. If all goes well for the first two 
nights, there Vvdll rarely be any loss or trouble afterwards. 
Give the sow all the milk or slops she will drink, but little 
or no grain for the first week or ten days. If the little pigs 
scour, change the food of the sow. There is nothing bet- 
ter for her than skimmed milk, not too sour, and the next 
best thing is two quarts of fine middlings, scalded with two 
or three quarts of boiling water, and the pail afterwards 
filled up with water sufiicient to cool it to the temperature 



196 HARRIS OX THE PIG. 

of new milk. And here we may sny that some men do not 
seem to know how to scald bran or meal properly. We have 
seen them put the meal in the pail and pour on the water, 
and then fill up with cold water at once, and without pre- 
vious stirring. The proper way is to put — say two quarts of 
the bran or meal k^o the pail, pour on the boiling water, 
and stir it up until every particle is wet or moistened ; 
and the longer it remains before the cold water is added, 
the better. The object is to soften and cook it, and make 
it more easily digestible. When properly prepared, it 
should look like fresh milk. Do not say that the pigs 
will not pay for all this trouble. It is a great mistake. In 
the first place, it is very little trouble, and in the second, 
the future growth of the pigs depends very much on their 
being well cared for while young. 

When the pigs are two weeks old, a little shallow 
trough should be made for them. Nothinof is better for 
this purpose than three or four feet of a tin eaves trough, 
turned up at the ends. Nail it to the floor, so that the 
pigs will not upset it ; and, if possible, put it where the 
sow cannot get at it. Then put in half a pint or so of 
sweet milk. Let them drink and Avaste what they will 
of it, but always clean it out before fresh food is added. 
Try to teach them early to eat their meals promptly, and 
then lie down to sleep. Give them a small handful of oats, 
or, better still, three or four tablespoonfuls of oat-meal, in- 
creasing the quantity daily, but never giving more than 
they will eat up clean. If fed too much at one time, and 
too little at others, it will produce scours, and retard the 
growth of the pigs. At three weeks old, a litter of eiglit 
or ten pigs will eat a quart of good oats four times a day. 
They seem particularly fond of cracking the oats and eat- 
ing out the kernels. 

After the first week or ten days the sow should have 
richer food — say two quarts of fine middlings, and a quart 
of oat or corn-meal, three times a day. Let her have all 



I 



BREEDING AND REARINa PIGS. 197 

she will eat, and in a week or ten days later, give richer 
food. Boiled barley is excellent, but it is better to vary 
the food, so as to induce the sow to eat more. We often 
throw our sows an ear or two of corn after they have 
eaten their regular meal. The more food the sow can be 
induced to eat, the richer will be the milk, and the more 
rapidly will the little pigs grow. 

When about six weeks old, the pigs should be altered. 
Do not be tempted to reserve one of them for a boar. 
No matter how handsome and well formed he may be, it 
is absolute folly to use him for breeding purposes. Select 
out one or two of the best sows, but alter all the boars. 
The sow pigs will grow and fatten more rapidly if spayed, 
but it is not often, in this country, that we can find men 
who are able to perform the operation with safety. Where 
there are such, all the sow pigs not intended for breeders 
should be spayed a week or ten days before weaning. 
There is nothing better to apply to the wound than pe- 
troleum — not kerosene — but the crude oil. 

The time of weaning Avill depend on the time when it 
is desired to have the next litter of pigs. If the sow is 
in good condition, she will take the boar in a week or two 
after the pigs are weaned. And if the sow and pigs are 
well fed, the pigs may be allowed to remain witli the sow 
until ten weeks or three months old, if there is time 
enough for the. next litter, and the sow is strong enough 
to stand the drain on her constitution. If she is not 
strong, wean the pigs when six weeks or two months old. 
It is better not to remove all the pigs at once ; or, if 
this is done, let them return to the sow for a few minutes 
at the expiration of twelve hours, and again at the expira- 
tion of twenty-four hours. We prefer, however, to let 
one or two of the weaker pigs remain with the sow for a 
week or so after the others are removed. 

At the time of weaning, the pigs should have extra at- 
tention. Feed them five times a day— the first thing iu 



193 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

the morning, and the last at night. If they have all tbey 
can eat, they will not pine for the mother. Nothing is so 
good for them as milk. A little flax-seed tea, oat-meal 
gruel, or corn-meal gruel, mixed with the milk, or given 
separately, will he good, and acceptable. As the weather, 
by tins time, is getting cold, it will be well to give warm 
food. But guard against giving it too hot. It should not 
be warmer than new milk. 

There is, perhaps, nothing better for the pigs than corn 
pudding and milk. Put two quarts of corn-meal into a 
pail, and pour on two or three quarts of boiling water, 
and stir it until all the meal is wet, then fill up the pail 
with milk. But be very careful that the scalded meal is 
all mixed with the milk. It often happens that there will 
be lumps of meal liot enough to scald, although the milk 
surrounding it is only warm. Such lumps should be 
broken up and mixed with the milk before feeding to the 
little pigs. 

We need hardly add that all pigs should be allowed a 
constant supply of fresh water. There are few things of 
more importance in the management of pigs. 

Let the pen be warm, clean, and well ventilated, but 
with no cracks for the wind to blow through on to the 
pigs. And, above all, let the pen and bedding be dry. 
There should always be litter enough for the pigs to bury 
tliemselves in. Warmth, to a certain extent, is equiva- 
lent to food, and, what is of more importance than the 
saving of the food, it saves digestion. Let the pigs have 
all the exercise they wish, and then do not be afraid that 
warm, dry, clean, and comfortable quarters, with abund- 
ance of wholesome food, will make them tender. We are 
aware that this is a common idea, but it is an erroneous 
one. A cold wind or storm, that will send a half-starved 
and neglected pig squealing around the barn-yard, with 
hair on end, head down, and back up, will have no effect 
on pigs treated as we have recommended. And there is 



BREEDING AND REARING PIGS. 



199 



nothing more important than to have yomig pigs in a 
heakhy,vigorous, ahnost/a^ condition, before winter sets in. 
The pigs are now three months old, and should weigh 
75 lbs. to 80 lbs. each. We have had grade Essex and 
Berkshires (which are not as large as grade Essex and 
Chester Whites) that weighed 88 lbs. when three months 
and four daj'S old.— And it should be remembered that^ 
during two months of the time, the pigs get most of 
their food from the sow ; and during the next month, they 
eat far less food than older pigs. 

During the ^^•inter, the pigs may be allowed the run of 
the barn-vard, to pick up what they can find. If the cat- 
tle are fed grain or oil-cake, a certain number of pigs will 
keep in good condition on the droppings of the cattle, and 
on food which would otherwise be wasted. Let the young 
pigs, however, have a separate pen from the old ones, and 
see to it that they have enough food to keep them in good 
condition. By throwing them an ear or two of corn m 
the pen, they will soon learn to be ready at the appoint- 
ed time to enter the pen for the night, without trouble. 
On no account let them go to bed hungry. Let then- 
stomachs be well filled— say at five o'clock in the evenmg 
—and they will sleep quietly until eight o'clock the next 
morning. Li fact, a Avell-bred and well-fed pig will sleep 
three-fo'iirths of his time, during the winter. If not dis- 
turbed, and tempted with fattening food, he will eat little 
and gain little. And sometimes, like other hibernating 
animals, he will live on his own fat. 

As sprin<T approaches, the young pigs will need more 
food, and fortunate is that farmer who has a liberal 
supplv of parsnips, sugar-beets, or mangel wurzel for 
them.* These roots, pulped or rasped in a cider-miU, mixed 
with a little corn-meal, are a cheap and excellent food for 
pigs in the spring. But, whatever the feed, let the pigs 
have all they need to keep them in a good, thriving con- 
dition. 



200 HAKEIS OX THE PIG. 

As soon as the clover is fairly growing, the pigs should 
have the run of the clover pasture. They Avill get three- 
fourths of their food in the pasture, and we need hardly 
say that, where clover grows as abundantly as it does with 
us, it is the cheapest food that can be fed to a j^ig. With 
clover, and the slops from the house and dairy, the pigs 
will keep in a thriving condition, but it is a waste of time 
and food to depend on this alone, with pigs intended for 
the butcher. If fed from a pint to a quart of corn, or 
corn-meal, a day, they will eat just as much clover, and 
will grow nearly as fast again. After harvest, they will 
pick up considerable food on the grain stubbles ; but if 
as fat as they should be by this time, stubble gleaning 
can be more profitably left to the breeding stock and 
spring pigs. 

By the first of Noa'^ ember, such pigs as we have de- 
scribed, fed as here recommended, should be in primT3 
order for the butcher, and can be sold at any time Avhen 
the price is satisfactory. 

They should average 400 lbs., dressed weight. The 
pork is of the highest quality, and the lard keeps firm 
and hard during the hottest weather in summer, and 
makes excellent pastry. 

EEARIlSrG AXD MANAGEMENT OF SPKING PIGS. 

Spring pigs, intended to be fattened and sold when 
about nine months old, should come early in the spring, 
and should have the best^f care and feed. A Avarm, dry 
pen, is absolutely essential. Thousands of pigs are lost 
every spring for want of a little forethought in making 
the pen ready for the soav to litter in. In a properly con- 
structed pen there is little to be done, except to clean it 
out a Aveek or ten days before the time the sow is expect- 
ed to pig, and provide a liberal allowance of dry straw. 
It is not Avell to have too much straAV in the pen at the 



I 



I 



BREEDIlSrG AND REARING PIGS. 201 

time of pigging; but, as already explained, straw which 
has been iii the pen for a week or so is softer and better 
than fresh straw. We would place straw in the sleeping 
apartment to the depth of a foot, and then remove the wet 
or soiled portions daily until, by the time the sow pigged, 
there would not be more tlian is needed to keep the 
mother and little ones warm. Two or three inches of 
soft straw on the bottom of the pen, under the sow, will 
be trod firm, and act as a non-conductor of heat, and will 
not increase the danger of the sow lying on the pigs. The 
danc^er arises from havino^ too much loose straw in the 
pen, and from having the sides of the bed too high and 
firm. 

It often happens that the pen in which the sow is placed 
is ill-adapted for the purpose. In this case, some tem- 
porary expedient for keeping out the cold winds must be 
resorted to. If nothing better can be done, every hole 
and crevice can at least be stopped with straw. The 
principal danger is during the first few hours after the 
pigs are born. If they can be kept warm and safe for 
two or three days, there is little danger of losing them. 
But for health and thrift, it is very desirable that they 
never be exposed to cold storms ; and what is of even 
still greater importance, the pen must always be dry. 

We would again endeavor to impress on our readers 
the importance of attending to these matters in advance. 
Few tilings are more vexatious than to lose a nice litter 
of pigs for want of half an hour's time in making the 
pen dry, warm, and comfortable. If we lose a calf, we 
liave still the milk of the cow, but if we lose a litter of 
pigs, there is no compensation. It is a dead loss of what 
the pigs would have been worth when a month old. 

We have said that for fall pigs, to be kept fourteen or 

fifteen months before killing, there are no better pigs 

thnn those obtained from a Chester White sow, put to a 

thorough-bred Essex, Berkshire, or Small Yorkshire (Suf- 

9* 




202 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

folk) boar. But for spring pigs we need a little moie re- 
finement. They should be three-quarters Essex, Berkshire, 
or some other fine breed — that is to say, a sow from the 
first cross of Essex and Chester White should be put to 
an Essex or Berkshire boar. This would give a highly 
refined, small-boned pig, that would mature early, and 
fatten rapidly. During the summer, however, they will 
require better food than the older and stronger pigs. 
They should have the run of a clover pasture, but 
should be favored in the distribution of the milk, and 
should have, in addition, sufficient grain of some kind to 
keep them fat enough for fresh pork at all times. 

It often happens that the most profitable way of dis- 
posing of such spring pigs as here described, is to sell 
them when three, four, five, or six months old for fresh 
pork. We have sometimes thought that butchers do not 
make sufficient difference in the price of such pigs as 
compared with common pigs. In fact, butchers have 
said to us ; " All that you say is true. These pigs make 
splendid pork, but our customers will pay no more for it 
than for common pork, with half as much again bone in 
it." The truth of the matter seems to be this : There is 
not enough of such pork sent to market to establish the 
grade. Few people know that there is as much diff"erence 
between the pork from a four-months-old, well-bred, and 
well-fed i)ig, as compared with an eight-months-old, ill- 
bred, and ill-fed pig, as there is between a sirloin and a 
round steak. In Boston, a sirloin steak is now (March, 
1870) quoted at 36 cents and 38 cents per pound, and a 
round steak at 20 cents and 2o cents ; chuck rib at 12 
cents and 15 cents, and soup pieces at 5 cents and 8 cents 
per pound. Here is certainly difference enough to stimu- 
late us to improve the form of our animals. Let farmers 
furnish good fresh pork, and there will be found those who 
are willing to pay a liberal price for it. At any rate, if the 
pigs are kept in high condition, they will be ready at all 



MANAGEMENT OF THOROUGH-BKED PIGS. ri03 

times for the butcher; and if the price is suitable, they 
can be disposed of, and if not, they can be kept until niiie 
or ten months old, and sold for fat pork. Spring pigs 
should never be kept on short allowance. It is almost 
impossible to keep them too fat. To keep them in a half- 
starved condition until the corn crop is ripe, and then shut 
them up to fatten, is a very expensive way of making 
pork. We have known a lot of spring pigs kept in this 
way, by a farmer w^ho seemed to fear that, if he fed a lit- 
tle corn during the summer, his pigs would not " grow," 
that were shut up to fatten in October, and fed soft corn 
at first, and afterwards sound corn in the ear, all they 
would eat, that did not, when killed in December, average 
100 lbs, each, dressed weight. A well-bred pig of the 
same age, well-fed from the day he was born, (and before,) 
would have dressed 300 lbs. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

MANAGEMENT OF THOKOUGH-BRED PIGS. 

The first object in the management of thorough-bred 
pigs is to secure perfect health. If any animal manifests 
the slightest tendency to disease of any kind, it must be 
rigorously rejected. Moreover, if in a litter of pigs there 
are any defective animals, we would fiitten the sow and 
dispose of her. It is not safe to breed from her. And if 
the same defect manifests itself in the litters of other 
sows, bred to the same boar, it is pretty conclusive evi- 
dence that the boar is not perfectly sound, and he should 
be at once rejected. No matter how apparently healthy 
the parents may be, if there is any tendency to disease, or 
defects in form in the oifspring, the probabilities are, that 



204 HARRIS OX THE PIG. 

there is some latent disease in the parents ; and even 
though we breed from none of their offspring but those 
apparently sound, yet we are never sure that the disease 
will not manifest itself in the next generation. 

Next to health, the digestive and assimilating power 
of a thorough-bred pig is of the greatest importance. 
Without good digestion, rapid growth is impossible. The 
pig must have a stomach capable of extracting the nutri- 
ment from a large amount of food, and the process of as- 
similation must proceed with equal rapidity. These 
qualities are, in a good degree, under our control. In a 
thoroughly established breed, " like begets like," not only 
in form and color, but also in those qualities which deter- 
mine rapid growth, early maturity, and a disposition to 
fatten easily. Check the growth of a young boar and 
sow by keeping them in cold, wet pens, on short allow- 
ance, and, though they themselves may afterwards appar- 
ently recover from such treatment, the evil effects wnll be 
seen in their offspring. They may be perfect in form, 
but they will not possess the maximum capacity of growth 
and fattening qualities. In the management of thorough- 
bred pigs, this idea must never be absent from the breed- 
er's mind. * So far as is consistent with health, the young 
pigs must be daily kept in such a way as to secuie a rapid 
growth. All thoughts of " hardening" them by exposure 
to cold storms must be abandoned. All attempts at starv- 
ing them, in hopes of making them more healthy and 
vigorous, must be given up — first, because it will not ac- 
complish the object, and secondly, because if it would, we 
should lose one of the first objects we have in getting 
an improved breed of pigs — the capacity of converting a 
large amount of food into flesh and fat. 

It has been supposed that the success of a breeder de- 
pends almost entirely on his judgment in selecting a male 
adapted to correct any deficiencies in the form or quali- 
ties of the females. But while this is sometimes very im- 



I 



MANAGEMENT OF THOROUGH-BRED PIGS. 205 

portant, yet the real skill of the breeder of thorough-bred 
pigs consists, in great part, in his ability to keep his 
young pigs growing to their utmost capacity, and, at the 
same time, keep them in perfect health, and in good con- 
dition for breeding at the proper age. Let no farmer ex- 
pect to succeed as a breeder of thorough-bred pigs if he 
leaves them to the care of an ordinary hired man. He 
must give them h?s own personal attention. If he objects 
to this, if he has no liking for a refined, well-bred, well- 
behaved, well-formed pig, let him turn his attention to 
some other business. It is, of course, not necessary that 
the owner should clean out the sties, or cook the food, or 
w^ash the pigs, and feed them. But he will find it of 
great advantage to know how to perform all these opera- 
tions. Ordinary farm men have been so accustomed to 
let pigs wallow in the mire, and take care of themselves, 
that it is very difficult to get them to realize the import- 
ance of cleanliness, regularity in feeding, general kind- 
ness, and constant attention. It is not an easy matter to 
induce a common farm man to groom a horse thoroughly, 
and it is still more difficult to get such a man to clean a 
pig. And yet a breeder of thorough-bred pigs will find 
few things more important for health and for rapid 
growth, and for the development of the best points, than 
washing in summer, and cleaning them with a brush in 
winter. 

An extensive range is almost as important for thorough- 
bred pigs as it is for poultry, and we think it a mistake 
for a breeder to keep more than one breed on the same 
farm. It is not only convenient and economical to let the 
pigs run out in a pasture during the spring, summer, and 
autumn, and in the barn-yard during the winter, but it 
is desirable for their health and vigor. It is not always 
easy to accomplish this object, even when one breed only 
is kept, and it must be still more difficult when two or 
three breeds are kept. 



20G HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

To keep up and improve the quality of the stock, it is 
absolutely essential to "weed out " all that show any ten- 
dency to deterioration ; and on this account it is desirable 
to have a good-sized herd to select the breeding stock 
from. We must have at least two boars of each breed ; 
and where two or three dijBTerent breeds are kept, this is 
no slight expense. We would, therefore, earnestly recom- 
mend breeders to confine themselves to one breed. 

THE BOAR. 

A young boar must never be stinted in food. Until he 
is a year old, he should be kept growing as rapidly as 
possible, consistent with health and vigor. But at the 
same time, he must not be allowed to get too fat. We 
would let him have all the food he will eat. If he gets 
too fat, reduce the quality^ but not the quantity, of the 
food. It is here that judgment and experience are par- 
ticularly important. A person who has kept none but 
common pigs is very apt to think that his thorough-bred 
boar is getting too fat. The roundness and symmetry of 
the body, with the comparatively small growth of bone 
and offal parts, leads him to suppose that the pig is not 
growing fast enough. This is particularly the case with 
the small breeds. He thinks they are fattening inside, 
but are not growing ; and, in order to make him grow, or, 
at all events, to prevent him from getting too fat, he turns 
him to a straw stack, or shuts him up in a pen, and feeds 
him nothing but dish-water and a few potato parings. 
Nothing can be more unwise. If the pig is getting too 
fat, which, in the case assumed, is not probable, the bet- 
ter plan is to turn him into a clover lot, or into a stubble 
field. What he needs is exercise and abundance of plain 
food. If it is winter, let him have less concentrated food, 
but give him nil of it that he will eat up clean, twice a 
day. A few boiled potatoes and coarse bran, or bran 



MANAGEMENT OF THOROUGH-BRED PIGS. 207 

alone, fed moist, makes a good winter diet in such a case. 
But so far as oar observation extends, where one pig is 
injured from over-feeding, ten are stunted in growth from 
want of a regular and abundant supply of appropriate 
food. 

At eight or nine months old, a boar of the small breeds, 
if kept in the way we have recommended, will have nearly 
completed his growth, and may be allowed to serve a few 
sows. But be careful not to let him have so many as to 
reduce himself materially in flesh, or check his growth. 
One service is sufficient for a sow, and to allow more is a 
mere waste of the strength and enei'gies of the boar, and 
is probably injurious to the sow. To let a young thorough- 
bred boar serve a number of common sows, at a dollar a 
head, is mere folly. The English breeders usually charge 
a sovereign. 

When the boar has attained his growth, he Avill not re- 
quire as rich food. He should, however, have enough to 
keep him in perfect health and vigor. He should always 
have enough to All his stomach. Bran and roots, or 
green clover, will ordinarily keep him in good condition. 
But when he is in active service, he must have richer food. 
In regard to the number of sows a full grown boar should 
be allowed to serve, it must be remembered that the 
proper season for having the sows come in is comparatively 
limited. From the middle of October until the first of 
December the boar is most in demand, and at this time, 
if full grown, may be allowed to serve twenty or twenty- 
five sows, and the same number during the spring season. 

If the boar is a very valuable one, and it is intended to 
keep him for several years, he should be restricted to 
fewer sows — say eight or ten in a season. On the other 
hand, a boar that we intend to alter and fatten as soon as 
the season is over, may be allowed to serve all the com- 
mon or grade sows that his strength will permit — say 
seventy-five or eighty during three months. 



208 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

Usually, it is more profitable to alter and fatten a boar 
when three years old than to keep him longer. But, of 
coui'se, much depends on his value and on our ability to 
replace him. Fisher Hobbs' celebrated Essex boar, 
" Emperor," of which we have given a portrait on 
page 79, was eight years old when his picture was taken. 
An animal of extraordinary merit may be kept as long as 
he gets good pigs. 

The boar's pen should have a yard attached not less 
than ten or twelve feet square, and it is better, always, to 
turn the sows to him, than to turn him out to the sows. 
If he is sluggish, it is well to have a strong door between 
this yard and the boar's sleeping pen, so arranged that he 
can see the sow w^ithout being able to get at her until the 
door is open. Shut the door between the pen and the 
yard, and then turn the sow into the yard, and let her re- 
main a short time before letting the boar out. The best 
boar we ever had was exceedingly shy in this matter. 
He apparently objected to have strangers looking on. 
We kept him for some years, and by humoring his j^ecu- 
liarities, he proved a very useful animal. He always 
showed most energy early in the morning, before he had 
had his breakfast. Some of our neighbors, wdio had been 
accustomed to drive their sows to common boars, that 
would tear down a pen, or push over a fence to get at a 
sow, were disgusted with the dignified moA^ements of tliis 
thorouGfh-bred boar. After waitino; and watchino- a few 
minutes, they would drive away their sows to some long- 
nosed, slab-sided brute, while those who exercised a little 
more patience, were almost invariably rewarded with 
splendid litters of pigs. The truth of this matter is, 
that good breeders increase the development of the choice 
parts of a pig at the expense of the offal ; and the ham 
of a well-bred and well-formed boar has been enlarged at 
the expense of some portion of the contiguous parts. We 
have known this carried to such an extreme, that casual 



I 



MANAGEMENT OF THOEOUGH-BRED PIGS. 209 

observers would suppose tliey were looking at a barrow- 
pig. Any one who will contrast a coarse Chester County 
boar with a refined Essex will understand our meanino;. 

THE SOW. 

The treatment of a sow until she is eight or nine 
months old does not differ from that of the boar. She 
should be well fed, and have plenty of exercise. If she 
is born in March, and is kept growing rapidly, and is of 
an early maturing breed, she may be allowed to take the 
boar in ISTovember, when about eight months old. She 
would then have pigs in March, when a year old. This 
is breeding earlier than is usually recommended, but it 
must be remembered that we are treating of pigs that 
have been bred almost exclusively for the purpose of rapid 
growth wdiile young, and for early maturity. If she is 
strong and healthy, with good digestive powers, it will 
not hurt her to have a litter of pigs at a year old, and to 
have two litters a year afterwards, for two or three years. 
The breeder, how^ever, must exercise Judgment in this 
matter. It often improves a sow wonderfully to let her 
get a year or fifteen months old before she takes the boar. 
And in the case of late fall pigs, we should always be in- 
clined to keep them until the following November before 
they are served. 

The sow, when in pig, should be allowed abundance 
of food, and as extensive a range as j^ossible until a week 
or ten days before farrowing. She should then be placed 
in her pen, and fed with food similar to that which it is in- 
tended to give her after she has farrowed. Nothing can 
be better than skimmed milk and scalded bran, with a. 
little oil-meal, to loosen the bowels, if necessary. Di- 
rections for furnishing the pen with litter, etc., have 
been already given, and need not be repeated here. As, 
however, a litter of thorough-bred pigs are of considera- 



210 HARRIS OX THE PIG. 

ble value, we would particularly urge that everything be 
provided in advance that can insure their safety. We have 
lost a litter of ten pigs that, at ten weeks old, would 
have bronglit us two hundred dollars, simply from neg- 
lecting to have the pen properly protected beforehand 
against a severe storm whicli occurred the night the sow 
farrowed. Much is said about sows eating their young, 
but where one pig is lost in this way, a hundred die from 
damp pens and neglect. 

When the sow is shut up by herself in the pen, if she 
is uneasy, it is well to let her out for an hour or so during 
the forenoon, letting her in again for her noon meal, and 
in the course of an hour or so; let her out again, putting 
her back at feeding time for the night. In this way she 
will soon become accustomed to the pen. It not un fre- 
quently happens that the sow, at this period, is constipa- 
ted ; and if this is the case, she should be fed on more suc- 
culent, and less concentrated, food. We know of nothing 
better than bran mashes, either alone, or mixed up with 
linseed tea. If this does not relieve the trouble, give an 
injection of warm water, with a little soap in it. In ob- 
stinate cases, i^ut an ounce of Epsom, or two ounces of 
Glauber's salt in the injection. This is generally better 
than giving her medicine, even if she would eat it in her 
food, which she will seld(^m do. It is not safe to attempt 
to drench a sow at this period. A careful attention to the 
diet, with sufficient exercise, will almost always prevent 
this trouble. 

Our own sows are so quiet that we can do anything 
with them. And before they farrow, we are in the habit 
of handling them, rubbing their teats, and getting them 
thoroughly accustomed to our presence in the pen. If all 
goes right, it is best to let the sow alone ; and, in all 
cases, it is better to err in oivino; too little attention or 
assistance than too much. If the weather is very cold, 
throw a blanket over the sow ; and as soon as a little pig 



MANAGEMENT OF THOROUGH-BRED PIGS. 211 

arrives, rub liim dry with a little soft straw, and put him 
to the teats, under tlie blanket. Be careful, however, not 
to break the cord too close to the navel, or it may causae 
blood to flow, and thus weaken the pig. If the sow has 
been well and properly fed, and is in vigorous condition, 
the pigs will be strong, and will take hold of the teats in 
a few minutes. When this is the case, little danger of 
loss is to be apprehended. If any of the pigs are weak, 
it often requires considerable care and attention to save 
them. The great point is to prevent them from becoming 
cliilled and to get them to suck. It is here that the pre- 
vious petting of the sow and handling of her teats prove 
useful. You can hold the pig to the teat, and press out 
some milk with the thumb and finger. It is said that 
the teats, towards the forelegs, afford the richest milk, 
and that, as each pig is believed to always keep the 
teat he first takes possession of, it is well to put the 
weaker pigs to the forward teats. We cannot speak 
from experience as to the advantage of this method. In 
the case of thorough-bred pigs, it will pay to have a man 
watch tlie sow the first night, to see that she does not lie 
on any of the little ones. If the j^igs are strong, there 
will be comparatively little danger after the first night ; 
but we have known a sow to lie on a weak pig and crush 
it to death when eight or ten days old, and when all 
danger was supposed to be passed. We once had a sow 
lie on a sick pig, that was large enough to wean, and hurt 
it so much that it died in a few hours. If the pigs are 
strong, it is an easy matter to raise them ; but if not, 
great care will be required. It is, therefore, in all respects, 
very desirable to have the pigs come strong and healthy, 
and this is usually the case when the sow and boar are 
healthy, and are descended from a healthy stock, and 
when the sow herself is, and always has been, well and 
properly fed, and has had plenty of fresh air and exer- 
cise, with access to charcoal, ashes, and pure water. 




212 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

When a litter of pigs gets chilled, there is nothing bet- 
ter to revive them than hot chaff from the steam vat, re- 
newed by degrees as often as it gets cool. We have 
saved pigs in this way that were almost lifeless. Place 
the chaff along the side of the sow, next to the teats, and 
put the little pigs on it, and nearly cover them with the 
chaffj and then throw a blanket over the sow and the 
pigs and hot chaff. Of coarse it will be necessary to re- 
main with the sow and watch the pigs ; and we have 
sometimes given them, with advantage, a little warm new 
milk, or fresh cream, with a teaspoonful of gin or whiskey 
to three or four tablespoonfuls of the milk or cream. 
When they revive a little, place them to the teats, and 
encourage them to suck a little. 

In very cold weather, it is often desirable to hang some 
blankets from the top of the pen around the sow, like the 
curtains on a tent-bedstead ; and by placing several bags 
of hot chaff inside the curtains, the temperature may be 
raised several degrees. If more convenient, pails of hot 
water may be used instead of the hot chaff. 

We once had a litter of A^aluable pigs come one night 
during a severe cold storm. The kitchen fire was out, 
and no hot water to be had, but in the steam-house was a 
barrel of boiled barley. By taking a little from the top 
it was found to be hot underneath, and we carried six or 
eight pailful s of hot barley into the pen, and in this way 
managed to keep the pigs warm, and save the v/hole litter. 

When the pigs are two weeks old, they will begin to 
lap a little milk, and a week later, will eat a few oats. 
The directions already given in a previous chapter are ai> 
plicable here; When the pigs are a month old, we let 
the sow out from the pigs in the morning, after breakfast, 
and again after dinner, feeding the pigs while the soav is 
away. At first, the sow is kept out only an hour or so at a 
time, and as the pigs get older, she may be kept out longer. 
In this way the little pigs will eat more food, and will not 



I 



MANAGEMENT OF THOROUGH-BRED PIGS. 213 

draw so mucli on the strength of the sow. In the case 
of thorough-bred pigs, wheie it is desirable to have the 
sows breed as long as they produce strong litters of 
ten or a dozen, this is quite an important point. Great 
care must be taken not to tax the strength of the sow 
too much. Little pigs, of a good breed, grow so rapidly, 
that they require much more food than ordinary pigs, 
wliile the sow has been so refined by breeding, that she 
is seldom strong enough to stand the drain, when the pigs 
depend entirely on her for food. 

The pigs will do better to remain with the sow until 
they are two months old ; and if they are well fed, and 
are gradually weaned in the way above recommended, the 
sow will suffer no harm. 

According to the experiments of Doctor Miles, previous- 
ly alluded to, Essex pigs, about three weeks old, ate ?>^\^ 
lbs. of new milk, each, per day. The next week they ate 
nearly 7 lbs. of milk, each, per day. From this, it ap- 
pears that a litter of ten pigs, a month or five weeks old, 
will eat over 30 quarts of new milk a day, or more than is 
ordinaiily given by the best cows. We present these facts 
here to show what an immense drain a suckling sow is 
called upon to sustain. We have often observed how 
rapidly such a sow loses flesh after the third week. 
No matter how fat she may have been, and how much of 
the richest food she is allowed, she will soon get very thin 
unless the pigs are induced to eat other food than that 
which the mother supplies. 

The milk of the sow is richer than that of any other 
domestic animal. Milk is derived from the blood, and this 
is derived either directly from the food, or from the flesh 
and fat stored up in the animal. It is, therefore, easy to 
understand that, when a sow is called upon to give as 
much milk as one of the largest and best cows, it must 
tax her digestive powers to the utmost, or rapidly convert 
her flesh into blood and milk. 



214 HARKIS ON THE PIG. 

We are particularly anxious to call attention to this 
matter, as ^ye deem it one of the most important points 
in the management of thorough-bred pigs. A litter of 
ten pigs, at birth, weighs about 15 lbs., and at six weeks 
old, sometimes as much as 250 lbs., or nearly or quite as 
much as the mother herself weighs, in many cases. It is 
evident that this enormous gro\\th must require a large 
amount of food from somewhere. From whence is it ob- 
tained ? In thorough-bred pigs, we must have as rapid 
growth as possible while young, or the breed deteriorates. 
The offspring of pigs whose growth is checked while 
young from want of food, will, in some degree, lose the 
capacity of growth, even though abundance of food is 
furnished. The sins of the owners of the parents are 
visited on the owners of the children. The pigs have 
been bred for the very purpose of growing rapidly, and 
they cannot grow without food. To expect a thorough- 
bred sow (refined down to the last degree,) to raise a lit- 
ter of pigs (inheriting a tendency to rapid growth), with 
no moie food than a common sow with a litter of common 
pigs, is unreasonable. The thorough-bred sow and ])igs 
require, and must have, better food, and more attention 
than the common pigs. 

A first-class thorough-bred sow, that produces eight 
or ten pigs at the first litter, and proves a good mother 
and nurse, is a very valuable animal, and itr will pay well 
to take care of her. For the first two weeks after far- 
rowing, little change will apparently take place in her 
condition. The scales would doubtless show that she has 
lost weight, but it is from the inside fat, which finds its 
way into the milk for the nourishment of the young. 
All animals lay up fat for this purpose, and it is not nec- 
essary to furnish a large quantity of rich food for the 
sow for the first week after firrowing. She should have 
all the cooling drinks she requires, and food that is easily 
digested, such as milk and bran mashes, and later, oat- 



MANAGEMENT OF THOROUGH-BRED PIGS. 215 

meal or barley-meal. After the second week, give richer 
food, but be careful that it is not rich enouQ-h to derano-e 
the stomach of the sow, and produce diarrhoea in the 
little pigs. Boiled barley, given in connection with the 
milk and bran, is excellent. Let it be thoroughly boiled. 
Soak it in water for twelve hours, and afterwards boil it 
in the same water until it bursts open. Three weeks after 
farrowing is the critical time for the sow. The pigs be- 
gin to require much more milk, and are constantly pulling 
at her. She will begin to fall off in flesh, and tJiis is not, 
in itself, objectionable, provided it is not carried too far. 
It is here that the breeder must exercise his best judg- 
ment. The sow must have a liberal and regular su])ply 
of nutritious food. But be very careful not to give her 
a comparatively innutritions food one day, and a full sup- 
ply of rich food the next. The true plan, as we have be- 
fore said, but it cannot be too often repeated, is to -feed 
the little pi[is^ and thus lessen their demands on the 
mother. Give them a little new milk from the cow, and 
take pains to teach them to drink it. If you teach one 
to drink, the others will be likely to follow his example. 
A little sugar or molasses in the milk will prove accepta- 
ble to the pigs. In a fev/ days, mix a little scalded or 
boiled oat-meal with the milk, and gradually increase the 
quantity as their appetites increase. A little boiled barley 
may also be given, and throw them a handful of whole 
oats on the floor of their pen, for them to crack and exer- 
cise their teeth on. In this way you can save the strength 
of the sow, and we deem this one of the most important 
points in breeding, especially Avith the first litter. 

In the natural state, sows do not have more than half 
as many pigs at a litter as the improved breeds, and they 
do not grow half as fast, and consequently do not require 
more than half as much milk. Those who talk so much 
about following " Nature," seem to forget these facts. 
Our object is to improve on nature, and to do this we 



216 HAREIS ON THE PIG. 

have to provide improved conditions. A thorougli-bred 
pig is a work of art, and its production calls for intelli- 
gence, thought, care, patience, and perseverance. 

We once had two valuable thorough-bred sows that 
farrowed their first litters in February. They had ten 
pigs each. Through carelessness, one whole litter was 
frozen to death. We took a couple of the pigs from the 
other litter, and gave them to the sow that had lost 
her litter, and these also died. The other sow raised 
the eight pigs, and they did well. The sow was left in 
charge of an ordinary man, and by the time the pigs were 
five weeks old, she was as thin as a rail. The pigs were 
not weaned until nine weeks old. She nourished them 
at the expense of her own flesh, and, as it turned out, at 
the expense of her strength also. She did not recover 
from the effects of the drain on her constitution for six 
months, and did not take the boar again until the follow- 
ino- October. In the meantime, the sow which lost all her 
pigs took the boar in two weeks, and had a litter of ten 
pigs in July, worth, at two months old, $20 each. Wc 
mention this fact to show that it will pay to take particu- 
lar care of young sows, and to guard against overtaxing 
their strength and constitution. We must do this, not 
only by giving the sow the best of care and proper food, 
but also by feeding the little pigs, and doing all that we 
can to prevent the sow from giving them too much milk 
after they are three or four weeks old. 

A sow will often take the boar in three or four days 
after farrowing. In the case of large, coarse, common 
sows, this is sometimes desirable, but rarely in the case 
of thorough-breds. It is better to wait until the pigs are 
weaned. If the little pigs have been fed as above recom- 
mended, so that they have not taxed too much the 
strength of the sow, she will often take the boar in a few 
days, or, at farthest, in two or three weeks. She should 
have plenty of nutritious food and moderate exercise for 



MATS"AGEMENT OF TIIOROUGII-BRED PIGS. 217 

the first month after the pigs are weaned. After this, she 
should have all the food she can eat, but should, if possi- 
ble, be compelled to take some exercise in order to get it. 

MANAGEMENT OF THE YOUNG PIGS. 

The pigs, as before said, should be gradually weaned. 
They do better to remain with the sow until eight or ten 
weeks old, but we would commence weaning them when 
three weeks old. Let out the sow from them — at first, 
for an hour or so at a time, gradually extending the time 
as they get older. When a month old, they may be al- 
lowed to go out with the sow for an hour or two in mild 
weather, but not while the sun is very hot, as, in some 
breeds, our hot sun Avill blister the backs of young pigs. 
When five Aveeks old, they may go out into the pasture 
while the sow is kept in the pen. The little pigs need 
more exercise at this time than the mother. The secretion 
of milk, in her case, is equivalent to a considerable amount 
of exercise, and she should not be obliged to take exer- 
cise in order to get food. 

The most common complaints of little pigs are diarrhoea 
and colds. The former is caused by giving the sow im- 
proper food, or a too sudden change of diet, or by irregular 
feeding, or from want of pure water and fresh air. We once 
had a few cooked beans that had been left in the steam-bar- 
rel until they decomposed. They were thrown on to the 
manure heap, and a sow, which was suckling pigs, ate 
some of them. Two days afterwards, the whole litter 
was seized with violent diarrhoea, and one of them died in 
the course of two or three days. It was the worst case 
of the kind we ever had, and the diarrhoea continued for 
four or five days, and was not stopped until we gave the 
pigs two or three drops of laudanum each, at night, in 
some fresh cream, with a teaspoon, and repeated the dose 
the next morning. This efiected a cure, but the pigs did 
10 



218 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

not regain their thrifty growth for a week or ten days. 
We should add that the sow continued perfectly well, 
and manifested no symptoms of the complaint. As a 
general rule, no medicine will be required. Change the 
food of the mother, and let her go out into the air, but 
let the little pigs remain in the pen, and see that they are 
warm and comfortable. The less they are disturbed, and 
the more they sleep, the sooner will they recover. It is 
also very important to keep the pen clean and well venti- 
lated. Nothing can be worse than to leave the evacna- 
tions in the pen. Scatter some dry earth about the pen 
to absorb the offensive gases. Let the feeding apartment 
also be dusted over with dry earth or soil of any kind 
that can be obtained, and then scraped, and swept, and 
washed, and a little dry straw, or chaff, or sawdust, be 
spread on it, to prevent dampness. Scald the pig troughs 
with boiling water, and make them sweet and clean. Let 
this be done every day. The attendant should understand 
that the scours are an evidence of negligence or carelessness. 
The same may be said of coughs or colds. Damp pens, 
exposure to a cold storm, too much litter at one time, and 
too little at another, or suffering it to remain until it gets 
damp, are the chief causes of colds, with all their attend- 
ant disorders. An ounce of Epsom salt, given to the 
sow in her food, twice a day, will be beneficial to the lit- 
tle pigs. But it is not often that pigs are affected with 
colds until after they are weaned, and in this case a few 
salts, either Epsom, Glauber's, or Rochelle, as most con- 
venient, may be given in the food — say a teaspoonful of 
Epsom or Rochelle salts, to a three-months-old pig, or a 
tablespoonful of Glauber's salt, given in the food twice a 
day, with a little gentian or ginger, or some other tonic. 
Fresh air is very important, and in mild weather they 
should be allowed to run in the pasture, but should be 
permitted to return to their pen whenever they wish. 
Let the pen be made as dry and comfortable as possible ; 



MANAGEMENT OF THOROUGH-BRED PIGS. 219 

give succulent food, and guard against constipation, and 
in a few days the pigs will be better. In our own experi- 
ence, we have never happened to have any serious trouble 
from this cause, but we once sent a pair of valuaWe pigs 
to a gentleman in Illinois, and the boar, nine or ten weeks 
old, and a very strong and apparently healthy one, caught 
cold on the route, and though he received good care, died 
in a week or so afterwards. 

The great point in the management of young pigs is, 
to keep them growing rapidly. If strong and vigorous, 
they are seldom liable to any disease, and if attacked, 
soon throw it otf. We think it advantageous to pet them 
and make them as tame as possible. They are fond of 
being rubbed with a brush, and have not the slightest 
objection to a good Irish scratching, especially in the 
holes and corners about the head, where they cannot 
scratch themselves without unusual exertion. We are in 
the habit of taking hold of our. young pigs back of the 
ears, and when they get used to it, they regard it as indi- 
cating a desire for a frolic. If well fed, well petted, and 
in high health, tliey enjoy a frolic as much as a pair of 
young dogs. At three months old, the boar pigs should 
be separated from the sows. 



220 HARRIS ON THE PIG*. 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE PROFIT OF RAISING THOROUGH- BRED PIGS. 

A farmer who reads the preceding chapter will be very 
apt to ask — " Will it pay to be at all this trouble to raise 
pigs ? Will it not be better to keej) a kind that does not 
require so much attention ?" 

In the first "place, it should be remarked that, we do not 
advocate keeping thorough-bred pigs to be fatted and sold 
to the butcher. They are raised for the pur^^ose of im- 
proving our ordinary stock ; and we have already at- 
tempted to show what is the value of a thorough-bred 
boar for this purpose. Suffice it to say here, that he is 
worth much more than he is ordinarily sold for. We be- 
lieve that reliable breeders of thorough-bred pigs are 
often unable to supply the demand for boars ; and it is 
certain that, as their value for improving our common 
pigs becomes more generally recognized, the demand will 
become far greater. At the present time, not one boar in 
a thousand, kept for use in the country, is thorough-bred. 
The American agricultural press, wliich is becoming a 
mighty power for good in the land, is doing valuable ser- 
vice in calling attention to the importance of using none 
but thorough-bred males of all kinds of stock, and the pros- 
pects of breeders never were more encouraging than now. 
As general intelligence and civilization increase, so in- 
creases the demand for flesh meat of good quality ; and 
the prices paid for it warrant us in using every means in 
our power for increasing the supply. In the future, as in 
the past, the price of pork will fluctuate ; but with our fa- 
cilities for transportation, and the ease with which pork 
can be cured and shipped to any part of the world, the 
American farmer is pretty certain of getting a fair price 



ii 



THE PROFIT OF RAISING THOEOUGH-BEED PIGS. 221 

for his pigs. The English farmers are enabled to compete 
with the pork made from om* cheap corn-growing sections 
by paymg more attention to the improved breeds, and by 
furnishing a superior article. The American farmers of 
the Eastern and Middle States must do the same thin 21; 
in order to successfully compete with raisers of pork in 
the cheap corn-growing sections of the West ; and the first 
step is to introduce thorough-bred boars of the best breeds. 
As long as breeders can sell their pigs at |20 each when 
two months old, it will pay to bestow a good deal of at- 
tention on their management. An English breeder is said 
to have made enough out of his pigs to " build a church." 
Many American breeders of Chester County and the 
Jefferson County pigs have made a great deal of money 
by the business. 



222 HARRIS OX THE PIG. 

CHAPTER XXiy. 

COOKING FOOD FOR PIGS. 

Nearly all farmers cook more or less food for their pigs. 
Comparatively few do it systematically and regularly 
throughout the year. Potatoes, pumpkins, and food of 
this class, is almost invariably cooked in this country, the 
general plan being to boil or steam the potatoes or pump- 
kins, and after tliey are cooked, mash them up with meal, 
either in the vessel in which they are cooked, or in the 
feed tub. If the meal is mixed with the cooked food 
while it is boiling hot, and the mass is then covered care- 
fully for a few hours, to retain the heat, the meal becomes 
soft, and is, in fact, more or less cooked, according to the 
skill and judgment with which the operation is performed. 

In England, Swede turnips are often cooked in this 
way, and mixed with barley or Indian corn-meal. But 
they are considered far inferior to jDotatoes as food for 
pigs. Of late years, the turnips, potatoes, etc., are ground, 
or crushed, and the pulp, as it comes from the machine, is 
mixed with meal. This mipcture of meal and pulped roots 
is sometimes steamed, but it is more generally fed without 
cooking, being simply allowed to remain in a heap until 
it becomes warm from fermentation. In this way the 
particles of meal are softened and broken up, and are 
supposed to be more readily digested by the animals. As 
to wliether it is more economical to feed raw 2)otatoes 
with raw meal or grain, or to cook them, there seems to 
be no question. We have never known any one who has 
tried steaming or boiling, with even ordinary conveniences, 
that was not perfectly satisfied that it was more profita- 
ble than to feed raw. We may assume that this fact is 
established by common experience. But, on the other 
hand, as between cooking and pulping, the question may 



COOKING FOOD FOR PIGS. 223 

be considered an open one — tliat is to say, as to whether 
it is more economical to steam roots and meal, or to pulp 
the roots and mix meal with tlie pulp, and then allow tlie 
mixture to ferment, has not heen satisfactorily determined. 
It depends, probably, a good deal on the conveniences for 
doing the work. 

If we might hazard an opinion, from a quite limited 
experience, we should say that, for store pigs and breed- 
ing stock, we should prefer, where there are good conven- 
iences for steaming, to pulp the roots, mix them with suf- 
ficient hay chaff to absorb the juice, and then add a little 
meal, and steam the whole mixture together. The clover 
hay imjDarts an agreeable flavor to the cooked mass, and 
the pigs eat it with far more avidity than they will eat 
the raw pul23 and meal mixture. If we can winter our 
pigs on roots, and clover hay, with a little meal, one of the 
chief objections to keeping a large stock of pigs is en- 
tirely removed. They are then kept on food, the produc- 
tion of which enriches, rather than impoverishes, the soil, 
while the manure from it is of the richest and most valu- 
able description. 

Where pigs are kept for the purpose of supplying the 
demand for choice fresh pork, cooking will probably be 
found essential to success. The pigs should be ready for 
market at from four to five months old. In proportion to 
the food consumed, young pigs (and probably all other 
animals) grow much more rapidly than older ones. But 
if they are to grow rapidly, and fatten at the same time, 
they must have the richest and most easily digestible food. 
Of course they must be fed with judgment, varying the 
food as occasion requires, and sometimes giA^ing raw 
grain, but our main dependence must be steamed roots 
and meal ; or, in the absence of roots, we must have 
cooked meal, with sufficient steamed hay or grass to fill 
the stomach, and keep the bowels regular. The richer the 
food, provided the pigs can eat enough of it to fill their 



224 HARRIS OX THE TIG. 

stomachs three times a day, without jDi'oducing constipa- 
tion or scours, the more rapidly will they fatten. 

There is a sense in whicli it may truly be said, tliat 
cooking adds nothing to the amount of nutriment in food. 
All that can be claimed for it is that it increases the di- 
gestlhillty of the food. To what extent this takes place 
has not been determined. In fact, the whole subject is 
surrounded with difficulty. 

In Chapter III, we liave endeavored to show how im- 
portant it is to obtain animals that will eat and digest a 
large amount of food. And it may be recollected that, 
in Dr. Miles' experiments (see page 122), 100 lbs. of meal, 
eaten by one pig, gave an increase of 19^ j^ lbs., while the 
same quantity, eaten by tmo pigs, gave only an increase 
of 3 lbs. The food was of the same character, and the 
difference in the results is due to the better appetite and 
digestive powers of the pig that ate double the amount 
of food. But the fact shows how important it is to j)ro- 
vide food that pigs will eat and digest. 

Those who advocate cooking food for animals, fre- 
quently assert that it " saves one-quarter of the food." 
We know of no satisfactory experiments which establish 
the fact. And, at any rate, it may safely be asserted that 
the saving of food is only a very small part of the advant- 
age to be gained from cooking. What we should aim 
at in breeding and feeding, is to get pigs to eat 25 per 
cent wore, rather than 25 per cent less^ food. We have 
assumed (see page 22) that 75 per cent of the food a pig 
eats is ordinarily required to support the vital functions. 
If a pig eats 100 lbs. of corn in a month, and gains 20 
lbs., we assume that 75 lbs. are used to support the vital 
functions, and 25 lbs. are left available for growth. On 
this supposition, take three pigs, and put them in separate 
pens. Feed one whole raw corn, another raw corn-meal, 
and another cooked corn-meal, and assume that one eats 



COOKING FOOD FOR PIGS. 



225 



87'|,j lbs. during the month, the other 100 lbs., and the 
other 125 lbs., and we may then get the following results: 



No. 1, Whole Corn, Kaw. 

No. 2, Raw Meal 

No. 3, Cooked Meal 



Food con- 
sumed. 



[Food requir- 
ed to sustain 
tlie vital 
functions. 



87^4 lbs. 
100 
125 



75 lbs. 
75 " 

75 " 



Food availa- 
ble for in 
crease of 
growth. 



1-2% lbs. 

25 

50 



Growth of 
Pigs. 



10 lbs. 
20 " 
40 " 



¥ 



This is assuming that the grinding and cooking do not 
add anything to the intrinsic nutriment of the food, but 
merely render it more digestible. We assume that when 
whole raw corn is fed, the pig can only digest 87' |^ lbs. 
per month, but when ground and cooked, it can digest 
125 lbs., and gains /oT^r times as fast. Of course these 
figures are only hypothetical. They may, or may not, be 
true. We give them merely to illustrate our meaning, 
and to show how important it is to have pigs that can eat 
and digest a large amount of food — and consequently how 
important it is to provide food readily digestible. 

It may be true that cooking enables the pigs to fatten 
on less food, but if so, it must be owing to the inability 
of the pigs to digest the raw food. They must void a 
portion of it in an undigested state. To a certain extent 
this can be avoided by feeding less grain, and furnishing 
the necessary bulk to fill the stomach by supplying a por- 
tion of less concentrated food. When pigs are allowed 
the run of a clover pasture, they may be fed whole grain 
without much loss from passing it in an undigested state. 
The feeder, by examining the feces, can tell how much 
grain he can feed without loss. If he feeds more than the 
pigs can digest, he suffers a loss of grain ; but if he feeds 
less, he suffers a certain amount of digestive poAver to 
run to waste. His profits will depend very much on his 
ability to guard against loss from either source. 

We cannot too often call attention to the great mistake 
which many farmers make in not feeding any grain to 



226 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

tlieir j)igs during the summer and autumn, while at pas- 
ture. It is not uncommon to furnish the pigs nothing but 
grass and the slops from the house until the time the corn 
crop is ready to husk. They are then shut up in a pen, 
and thrown whole corn on the ear. The pigs have been 
accustomed to a bulky food, from which they can extract 
little more than sufficient nutriment to keep them alive, 
when, suddenly, they are shut up, and allowed nothing 
but food containing, in a given bulk, three or four times 
as much nutriment. What wonder if a portion of it is 
voided in an undigested state ? If the pig fills his 
stomach, what else can he do with it ? His powers of 
digestion and assimilation are not three times as great 
to-day as they were yesterday, when he had nothing but 
grass. How much more reasonable it would be to feed 
him a little corn when at grass, and a little grass, or other 
succulent food, when shut up to fatten ! 

The corn fed to a pig while at grass increases his pow- 
ers of digestion and assimilation, and as he approaches 
maturity, he will be able to digest and assimilate more 
concentrated food. The aim must be to furnish him all 
he can possibly eat, digest, and assimilate. It is here that 
cooking comes to our aid. It enables us to " crowd " the 
fattening pigs forward rapidly to maturity. It is a costly 
process, feeding pigs wholly on grain, and we must shorten 
the time as much as possible. The pigs should be kept 
growing rapidly during the summer, increasing the sup- 
ply of grain as the j^igs get older, and when shut up to 
fatten, four or five weeks feeding on rich, cooked food, 
should fill them up with lard. 

By looking at our market reports, it will be seen that 
there is a diiference of two or three cents per pound in 
the price of pigs, according to their condition and quality. 
And, in point of fact, there is even a still greater differ- 
ence in the intrinsic value of the pork and lard to the 
consumers. 



COOKING FOOD FOR PIGS. 227 

This is a point that should not be overlooked in esti- 
mating the advantages of liberal feeding. Take two lit- 
ters of ten pigs, each horn, say, the first of September. 
Let both litters have the run of a barn-yard, with the slops 
from the house, dairy, etc. Let one litter have nothing 
but what they can pick up. Let the other have what 
they can pick up, and be supplied with a feed of grain, 
in addition^ that shall send them to bed every night with 
a full stomach. By the first of May, the one litter should 
weigh 200 lbs. each ; the other would be better than the 
average if they weigh 100 lbs. each. Then let both littei'S 
have the run of a pasture, with the sh:)ps from the house, 
etc. Let the one have nothing else, and the other be al- 
lowed a little grain every day — enough to fill their stom- 
achs every night, and make them sleep comfortably. By 
the first of October, the one litter will weigh — say 350 
lbs., the other 150 lbs. each. Then shut them both up to 
fatten. Let both litters have all the corn they can eat. 
Give one cooked corn-meal, and the other corn in the ear. 
In a month, the one should weigh 400 lbs. each, the other 
175 lbs. each. Last year the one litter would have sold, 
say for 10 cents per lb., live weight, the other for 1^\^ 
cents, and we have the following results : 

10 pigs, 400 lbs. each, at 10 cents $400.00 

10 pigs, 175 lbs. each, at IY2 cents 131.25 

To pay for extra feed $268.75 

We may estimate the extra feed as equal to an average 
of half a pint of corn per day, each, from the first of Oc- 
tober (when the pigs are a month old) to the first of 
December, say half a bushel of corn for each pig. From 
the first of December to the first of May, say one pint 
per day, or less than 2^\^ bushels for each pig. From May 
until October, allow one quart per day, or^ say 5 bushels 
to each pig. This would be 8 bushels of corn to each 
pig. And we have no sort of doubt that, in the circum- 
stances assumed, this 8 bushels of extra corn on each pig, 
10* 



228 



HARRIS (m THE PIG. 



or 80 bushels in all, would make the difference shown by 
the figures just given. 

To cook grain for pigs merely for the sake of " making 
it go further," will seldom pay on ordinary farms. This 
is particularly the case where grain is comparatively 
cheap, and fuel dear. It is profitable only when adopted 
for the purpose of enabling the pigs to eat and digest a 
greater quantity of food, and bring them rapidly forward 
for market. 

And it is still an open question whether we cannot 
adopt some cheaper method of increasing the digestibility 
of strain than o-rindincf or cookins: it. Where trrain can 
be ground cheajDly on the farm, we would grind or crush 
it for all kinds of stock. But when it has to be sent 
some distance to a mill, it is worth while to see if we can- 
not prepare it at home. 

In Mr. Lawes' experiments on sheep, eight Hampshire 
Down sheep were put in two pens, four in each pen, and 
allowed all the mangel w^urzel they Avould eat. Pen 1 was 
allowed 1 lb. of barley for each sheep, per day, the barley 
beiog coarsely ground. Pen 2 was allowed the same 
quantity of barley, also coarsely ground, but before being 
fed, it was soaked in cold water for 24 or 36 hours. The 
experiment lasted ten weeks. The following are the 
results : 



Pen 1— Barley-meal, fed dry 

Pen 2 — '• " '' soaked.. 



FOOD CONSUMED BY EACH 

SHEEP PER WEEK. Ino'ease of 

each sheep j)er 
Barley. ! Mangels. week. 



7 lbs. 



%i4 lbs. 

Will " 



2 lbs., 14 oz. 
2 " 8H " 



Soaking the barley enabled the sheep to eat more food, 
and grow 25 per cent faster than those having dry barley. 
Had the sheep been allowed more of the soaked barley, 
the result would probably have been still more in favor of 
the practice. One of the sheep in pen 2 gained 4 lbs. per 
week. He probably got more than his just proportion 



COOKING FOOD FOR PIGS. 229 

of barley, and the other three were obliged to make up 
the deficiency in eating more mangels. And so the total 
gain, in proportion to total food consumed, is not as great 
as it otherwise would have been. The amount, of actunl 
dry matter in the food, required to produce 1 lb. of in- 
crease, is nearly identical in both pens — 8' 1^ lbs. 

With pigs, when they are allowed all the grain they 
will eat, we have no doubt that soaking the grain would 
show still better results. In this country, where we feed 
so few roots, the experience of farmers indicates that they 
have a greater nutritive value than the mere amount of 
nutriment they contain would indicate. This is attribu- 
table, to a certain extent, to the flict that the food in the 
roots is intimately mixed with a large amount of water. 
Now, by soaking grain, it absorbs a considerable amount 
of water. Barley will absorb nearly half its weight of 
cold Avater. When cooked until it bursts open, it doubt- 
less absorbs a still greater quantity. In the absence of 
roots, therefore, we may obtain food somewhat resembling 
them by soaking or pooking grain. With the requisite 
number of tubs, it is an easy matter to have a constant 
supply of soaked grain for pigs or other stock. In fact, 
it would not be a difficult matter to soak the grain until 
it had absorbed all the water it would take up, and then 
keep it in a mass, from twelve to sixteen inches deep, 
until it begins to spi-out, whereby a portion of the starch 
is converted into sugar. As the grain grows, it must be 
spread out in a thinner layer. But it is probably better 
to feed it out soon after it commences to sprout, as the 
process of germination is attended with more or less loss 
of carbon. 

Where whole grain is steamed, there is a great saving 
of time and fuel by soaking the grain for 24 or 36 hours 
before letting on the steam. We are inclined to think 
tliat it can be cooked in this way to fully as much advan- 
tage as when it is ground into meal. Grain, whether 



230 HARRIS OX THE PIG. 

whole, or ground into meal, cannot be steamed without 
water, and if it could be, it is doubtful if it would be as 
good for the animals. The absorption of the water, and 
having it intimately mixed with the meal, is one of tlie 
advantages of cooking. Boussingault well says: "The 
absolute necessity of a sufficient degree of moistness in 
the food, in order to secure its due and easy diixestion, 
greatly countenances the practice which is beginning to 
be introduced in some places of steeping hay for some 
time in water before giving it to cattle." We think there 
can be no question that soaking or cooking food renders 
it much more easily digestible, and if so, the advantages 
of the practice, where liberal feeding is adopted, cannot 
be doubted. 

"We may add that whole grain, thoroughly soaked or 
boiled, swells to about double its bulk, and consequently, 
in feeding, we should allow, at leasts twice the quantity 
that the pigs eat when dry. To attain the best results, 
we should watch the pigs eating, and when they have 
eaten up all clean, give a little more, and encourage them 
to eat as much as possible. There is an amusing story in 
the American Agriculturist that illustrates the impor- 
tance of inducing pigs to eat as much as possible. 

" A good story was lately told us of several neighbors 
who, year after year, vied with one another in trying to 
produce the fattest hog, each taking a pig from the same 
litter, or in some way starting fair and square with pigs 
of the same age and size, and doing his best to make it 
as fat as possible before Christmas. One of the farmers 
invariably beat the others out and out so thoroughly, that 
his good luck could never be accounted for as accidental. 
The secret he kept to himself, but being watched by some 
one determined to find it out, the discovery was made 
that jealousy is a grand appetizer for hogs. First the pet 
monster was allowed to fill himself to his heart's content, 
and when his appetite was satiated, a half-starved shoat 



COOKING FOOD FOR PIGS. 



231 



was let in to the pen by a side door. The fat one would 
at once begin to fight it off, and meanwhile, to gorge him- 
self, simply to prevent the poor, squealing victim of un- 
satisfied cravings getting any food. This was a daily 




Fig. 53. — JEALOUSY AN AID IN FATTENING. 

programme, and the result was as stated. The fact is 
worth bearing in mind for, in preparing hogs for exhibi- 
tion, or for some reason, we are often desirous of expedit- 
ing the i'attening process." 



232 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

SUMMARY. 

It may be well, in conclusion, to state a few facts that 
may have heen given in previous chapters, but which it 
may be convenient to place here in a concise form for 
reference. 

The leading breeds of English pigs are Berkshire, 
Essex, and Yorkshire. The Essex are entirely hlacJc^ the 
Berkshire are also dark colored pigs, but not so black as 
the Essex, and have also white spots on the head and feet. 
There are large and small Berkshires. The Yorkshires 
are white, but occasionally dark spots show themselves 
on the skin, and these are not considered decisive e\idence 
that the pigs are not thorough-bred. There are small, 
medium, and large, or mammoth, Yorkshires. 

The Essex Avill, at maturity, dress from 400 to 450 lbs. 
They are the largest of the small breeds. Berkshires 
often exceed this weight, but when such is the case, they 
would be classed as Large Berkshires. The Prince Albert 
Suffolks are small Yorkshires. 

The leading breeds, originating in the United States, 
are the Cheshires, or Jefferson County, the Chester 
Whites, or Chester County, and the Magie, or Butler 
County pigs. The China-Polands, or China, and Big 
Polands, are said to be the same breed as the Magie, or 
Butler County. The Illinois Swine Breeders' Association, 
at its meeting in 1870, resolved to call them the "Magie" 
breed. They are a large, coarse breed, with black and 
white, and occasionally sandy, spots. Like the Chester 
Whites, they will doubtless afford splendid sows for 
crossing with Essex, Berkshire, or other refined thorough- 



SUMMARY. 233 

bred boars. The Jefiferson Comity are a very liandsome 
white breed, essentially Yorkshires. 

Pigs should always have access to fresh water. No 
matter how " sloppy " the food is, or how much dish-water 
is furnished, they should be furnisiied with pure water. 
We are satisfied that pigs often suffer for want of it. 

Salt, sulphur, charcoal, ashes, bone-dust, or superphos- 
pliate, should occasionally be placed where the pigs can 
eat Avhat they wish of them. 

If thoroughly boiled, pigs will eat beans, though they 
are not fond of them. Peas they eat with avidity, and 
when as cheap as corn, should be fed in preference, as 
they aiford much the richest manure. Half peas and 
half corn is probably better than either alone. Peas 
make very firm joork. 

Oil-cake, when fed in large quantities, injures the flavor 
and quality of the pork, but we have fed small quantities 
of it, with decided ' advantage to the health and rapid 
growth of the pigs, without any apj)arent injury to the 
lard or pork. It is quite useful for breeding sows. It 
keeps the bowels loose, and increases the quantity and 
quality of the milk. 

Bran, except in small quantities, is not a valuable food 
for fattening pigs. It is too bulky. But when rich, con- 
centrated food is given, such as corn, barley, peas, or oil- 
cake, pigs should be allowed all the bran they will eat, 
placed in a separate trough. In this way it becomes a 
very useful and almost indispensable article to the pig 
feeder. It is also very useful for breeding sows. 

The best roots to raise for pigs are parsnips and mangel 
wurzel. 

The period of gestation in a sow is almost invariably 
sixteen weeks. In three or four days after pigging, a sow 
in good condition will generally take the boar. But, as a 
rule, it is not well to allow it. If she passes this period, 
she will not take the boar until after the pigs are weaned. 



234 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

If she fails the first time, she will " come round again " 
in from two to three weeks. 

For mild cases of diarrhcea, nothing is better than 
fresh, skimmed milk thickened with wheat flour. 

Pigs should be castrated a week or so before they are 
weaned. 

Nothing in the management of pigs is more important 
than to provide a trough for the sucking pigs, separate 
from the sow, and to commence feeding them when two 
or three weeks old. 

Many of the diseases of pigs are contagious, and the 
instant a pig is observed to be sick, it should be removed 
to a separate pen. And it would be well to regard this 
singfle case of sickness as an indication that somethinof is 
wrong in the general management of the pigs. Clean 
out the pens, scald the troughs, scrape out all decaying 
matter from under and around them, sprinkle chloride of 
lime about the pen, or, what is probably better, carbolic 
acid. Dry earth is a cheap and excellent disinfectant. 
Use it liberally at all times. Whitewash the walls of the 
pens. Wash all the inside and outside wood-work, 
troughs, plank floors, etc., with crude petroleum. It is 
the cheapest and best antiseptic yet discovered. 

To destroy lice, wash the pig all over with crude pe- 
troleum, and the next day give him a thorough washing 
with warm soft water and soap, with the free use of a 
scru}>bing brush. 

In the absence of anything better, we use petroleum 
for all diseases of the skin in pigs, flesh wounds, etc. 

For a mild blister, in cases of cold, or threatened inflam- 
mation of the lungs, foment the body, under the forelegs, 
for an hour or so with cloths wrung out of hot water, 
and rub on a little saleratus or soda occasionally during 
the operation, to soften the skin, then apply petroleum. 
This will then act as a mild irritant, and heal at the same 
time. 



SUMMARY. 235 

Mange, or itch, is caused by a minute insect, which is 
probably hatched from eggs adhering to the skin. There 
is no way of curing it, or of preventing its spread, except 
by kiUing the insects and their eggs — not only on the 
pigs themselves, but also on the sides of the pens, posts, 
or anything that the diseased pig rubs against. To de- 
stroy them on the wood-work, nothing is probably so 
good as petroleum, and though we have not tried it, we 
have little doubt that it would also cure the pigs, espe- 
cially if applied before the disease has made much head- 
way. 

The disease usually manifests itself on the thin skin 
under the armpits and thighs, and inside the forelegs. 
At first, small red blotches or pimples appear, and these 
gradually spread as the insects multiply and burrow under 
the skin. It is well to give sulphur and other cooling 
medicine in the food, but the real aim must be to kill the 
insects by the prompt and continued use of carbolic acid, 
petroleum, or a strong decoction of tobacco. Solutions 
of arsenic and corrosive sublimate are used in severe 
cases, but are dangerous articles to place in the hands of 
inexperienced persons. " Unguentum," or mercurial oint- 
ment, is efficacious, but is not easily applied. 

Measles should be regarded as an evidence of bad treat- 
ment. In-and-in breeding, dirty pens, impure food, and 
especially allowing them to eat the droppings of other 
animals, are probably some of the causes of this disease. 
Where fattening pigs are fed on whole corn^ and the 
store pigs or breeding sows are allowed to eat their drop- 
pings, which they frequently do, it should surprise no one 
if these pigs, or, still more likely, their offspring, are at- 
tacked with measles. From the investigations of Dr. 
Thudicum and others, it is now clearly proved that mea- 
sles in pigs is caused by small entozoa, or internal para- 
sites, which are embryo forms of the common tapeworm. 
Measly pork is a fruitful source of tapeworms, and is unfit 



236 HARRIS OX THE PIG. 

for human food. We cannot too earnestly caution our 
readers against breeding from pigs that have ever been 
affected with measles, or allowing their breeding sows 
to eat the droppings of other animals, and especially of 
their own. Raw flesh meat, too, should never be fed to 
pigs. It contains the embryo tapeworms, and will be 
quite likely to produce measles either in the pigs eating it 
or in their offspring. Dogs are notoriously subject to 
tapeworms (probably from eating raw flesh), and where 
the dog tax is not enforced, we may expect measly pork. 

The seat of measles is the cellular matter immediately 
under the skin. On the skin itself, in pigs affected with 
this disease, will be found a number of small watery pus- 
tules, of a reddish color, and it is attended with cough, 
fever, pustules under tlie tongue, discharge from the nose, 
running from the eyes, weakness of the hind legs, and 
other indications of general debility. Unless neglected, 
the disease seldom proves fatal. Sulphur, saltpeter, Epsom 
salts, or other cooling jnedicines should be given, with 
a liberal supply of wholesome, nutritious, and easily di- 
gested food. 

Rheumatism is not an uncommon disease, especially in 
tliorough-bred pigs, when kept in damj^ sties, or furnished 
with rich food one week and jDoor food the next, or kept 
in a warm, ill-ventilated sty, and then exposed to storms, 
and otherwise badly treated. Tlie remedy is Rochelle 
salts, good treatment, and liberal feeding. Give the salt 
for two or three days, say one ounce a day for a 100-lb. 
pig, and less, or more, according to size, and then omit 
them for a few days. 

Protrusion of the rectum, especially with young pigs 
suffering from a severe attack of diarrhoea, is not uncom- 
mon. Wash the gut with warm water, rub on a little 
laudanum, and then gently press the part back into its 
place, pushing up the finger for a siiort distance. A little 
sucking pig may have five drops of laudanum. 



SUMMARY. 237 

Pigs should be provided with scratching j^osts, having 
auger-holes for pegs at diiferent heights, to accommodate 
pigs of different sizes. 

Stephens, in his " Book of the Farm," gives the follow- 
ing description of what may be considered the perfection 
of form in a fat pig : " The back should be nearly straight, 
and though arched a little from .bead to tail, that is no 
fault. The back should be uniformly broad, and rounded 
across along the whole body. The touch all along the 
back should be firm, but springy, the thinnest skin spring- 
ing most. The shoulders, sides, and hams, should be 
deep perpendicularly, and in a straight line from shoulder 
to ham. The closing behind should be filled up ; the legs 
short and bone small; the neck short, thick, and deep ; 
the cheeks round, and filled out ; the face straight, nose 
fine, eyes bright, ears pricked, and the head small in pro- 
portion to the body. A curled tail is indicative of a 
strong back. All these characteristics," he adds, " may 
be seen in the figure of the brood sow (fig. 52, page 180), 
though, of course, the sow is not in the fiittened state." 



238 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

APPENDIX. 

J. Mackelcan, Esq., one of the editors of the Canada 

Farmer, and an intelligent and careful observer, favors us 

with the following notes in regard to his management of 

pigs. 

"Mj plan of keeping store hogs over winter was to give them a good 
warm sty, with abundance of room and well littered with straw. They 
were fed on a mess made of boiled Swede turnips, mixed with pea cbafl 
and finely cut clover hay; the turnips, after being boiled soft, were 
placed in a barrel, ond the chaff and cut hay mashed into them. In ad- 
dition, they got all the refuse of the kitchen ; what milk that could be 
spared from the dairy being given to the late dropped fall pigs, which 
had a separate sty to themselves. As soon as the clover was well up in 
spring, they had the run of a clover field, on which the}' seemed to 
thrive, so that, when put up to fatten, at 12 to 16 months old they were 
about 300 lbs. weight each. Being in good condition, the process of 
fatting did not take more than three or four weeks ; they were al- 
lowed all they could eat of peas that had been soaked in water until they 
were soft and had begun to ferment. Generally spealcing, hogs are fat- 
ted here by simply giving them hard, whole peas as much as they can 
eat for about a month, sometimes in the field where they grew, the hogs 
being put up in a corner and fed from tlie stack ; but it is a wasteful 
process. The best farmers prefer to either grind the peas and then mix 
with a little water, enough to make into dough, or, if there is no mill 
near enough to grind them, to soak the whole peas in water until soft, 
and then feed to the hogs. The Berkshires (the breed I kept) seem to 
have an aptitude for eating and thriving on clover; my plan with the 
young sirring pigs was to take them from the sow at eight weeks old, shut 
them up for a few days, and feed on sour milk or buttermilk in which a 
little shorts or meal had been stirred. As soon as the clover was prettj'' 
well grown, sa}' about the beginning of May, put them in a small pad- 
dock by themselves. The paddock must be well seeded with a succulent 
growth of young clover, and can be made of rails or boards in a corner 
of a clover field, but must be close enough near the. bottom to keep the 
pigs from getting out. To prevent rooting, they had better be ringed. 
Tlie young pigs will live and thrive on the clover all summer as long as 
there is plenty of it. In addition, they should have all the spare milk or 
whey from the dairy, with some meal occasionally, or, if there is no 



APPENDIX. 239 

milk, allow each half a pound of meal per clay in water. They must bave 
enough to drink, a little salt once in a while, a shed with a tiglit roof to 
shelter them from rain storms or hot suns, and a few shovelfuls of dry 
ashes in which to wallow and keep off lice. This last may be omitted 
or only given onee in a while. For young pigs, meal shoiikl always be 
cooked or scalded, as raw meal is apt to give them the scours. They 
should also have free access to charcoal. It is not good for them 
to eat ashes, nor will they, if they have charcoal; but an ash heap to 
wallow in will keep them free from lice and fleas. I should also add 
that my store hogs readily eat fresh cut, green clover, so that, if they have 
but a small paddock and eat it all down, they can be fed cut clover thrown 
over the fence to them." 

F. W. Stone, Esq., Moreton Lodge, Guelph, Ontario, 
writes : 

" I consider the improved Berkshire the most useful breed for far- 
mers. With pigs, as with every other kind of improved stock, farmers 
should use nothing but pure-bred male animals. Many farmers send 
their sows to a pure-bred boar, and are so well pleased with the young 
pigs, that they select one of them for a boar, and in this way the im- 
provement is soon lost. * * There are many unpi-iucipled men who 
sell grades for pure breeds, and those who purchase them are disappoint- 
ed in trying to improve their stock. The breeders of pure-bred stock 
suffer more from the false represewtations of such persons than in any 
other way. Parties, Avhen commencing to breed, or wishing to improve 
their common stock, should purchase onlj^ from reliable breeders, and 
not from jobbers or traders, who sell anj'thing they can make money 
by. The young breeder sliould select the ^most perfect animals he can 
find, it is better, in commencing, to invest money in quality rather 
than in numbers. 

'' I believe it is better for young sows not to have pigs until they are 
14 or 16 months old, though, if the pigs have been well fed, and proper- 
ly cared for since they were farrowed, good litters may often be obtained 
at 12 months. A sow, not well fed, is generally jiulled down too much 
to gain the size she otherwise would, by having her first litter before 
she is 12 months old. 

"lu Canada, pigs are generally fed with pea-meal, or peas and oats, 
chopped and mixed with potatoes or boiled turnips. It is my opinion 
tliat regularity in feeding is an exceedingly important point. Those, 
who throw down, at one time, double the amount of food the pigs can 
eat, and then let the j)roper time go by without feeding anything, find 
that their porlc costs them double what it costs a careful and regular 
feeder who takes pleasure in watching his pigs eat." 

James Howard, M. P., of Bedford, England, a very 

successful breeder of Large or Medium Yorkshires, writes : 

"Mr. Fisher, of Carhead, Yorkshire, lias published a capi- 



240 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

tal lecture he delivered on the management of pigs, which 
I will send you. I enclose also a letter from Mr. Sidney. 

" The White Leicesters have disappeared. They had little or no liair. 
The large Yorks (uot the Mammoth) are the most profitable as thej- 
grow so last, and are turned into money quickly. 

" There are no such animals as pure Suffolks. They are the Fisher 
Hobbs Essex variety. 

"If you Avant sows to breed well, do not keep them too fat, nor yet 
in a weakly condition. Let them have a field to run about in. We used 
to fat a great many ' porkers ' with pulped roots, straw, chaff, and Indian 
corn, but we have now such a large demand for breeding pigs, that we 
have none left for fattiug. With, respect to feeding, the food should be 
given warm, not hot." 

From this last remark I conclude that the pulped roots, 
chaff, and Indian meal were cooked. 

The following is an extract from Mr. Sidney's letter 

to Mr. Howard : 

"I do not think our pigs have improved during the last ten years 
[since Mr. Sidney's book was written]. On the contrary, our Shows 
are likely to cultivate fat at the expense of constitution. I thinlc Mr. 
Harris mistalces my advice. [I thought he condemned the use of an 
Essex or Berkshire boar with a wldie sow.'\ A cross of black and white 
answers well for feeding, as most first crosses do. I observe that black 
l^igs have made their way in Yorkshire." 

The following extracts are from Mr. John Fisher's lec- 
ture on the breeding and management of pigs, alluded to 
by Mr. Howard. Mr. Fisher is the manager of Carhead 
Farm, near Crossbills, Yorkshire, and an experienced and 
successful breeder. We should remark that Carhead is a 
grass farm, and all the food for the pigs is purchased. Mr. 
F. says: 

"I am a decided advocate for early breeding and early feeding, and 
consider October or November the best time ibr putting soavs to the 
boar for the general crop. Tliey will then bring their litter in Mai-ch, 
and get them weaned, and take the boar again early in May, so that their 
second litter may get strong enough to stand the winter; and if the 
young sows, bred in March, have been liberally fed, and allowed plenty of 
exercise during the summer, they will be quite ready to take the boar in 
November, and bring their first litter at twelve months old. And we 
consider this the best way either to commence or increase a stock of 
breeding pigs, and should not endorse the claim to early maturity in any 
breed of pigs, if they were uot unfit to rear a litter of young at twelve 



APPENDIX. 241 

months old. If young sows are allowed to run until they are twelve or 
fifteen months old before they are put to breeding, they are very apt to 
miss their way altogether; and we find that the most successful breed- 
ers are those which are put to, when young, and are kept regularly 
breeding; consequently Ave do not disappoint them, but allow them to 
bring two litters a year. After their first litter we keep them sparingly, 
except when suckling. When they have weaned their spring litter, and 
have taken the boar again, they are turned into a grass field, in which 
there is a large shed, with rails across the doorway to prevent cattle en- 
tering. In this shed they sleep at night, or retire in rainy weather. If 
the gi-ass is not very plentiful, we give about a pint each of Indian corn 
per day, scattering it on the grass, and they c:m drink water from a stone 
trough which is fed by a spring, and placed near the ground that they 
may reach it conveniently. But they mostly gain so much flesh from 
being well fed while suckling, that they requii'c little more than grass; 
and some which have had nothing else, have done as well as we could 
wish them. 

" When the sows are brought into the breeding house, they are at 
once put on the same kind of food as will be continued to them while 
they are suckling. They are turned out for a few minutes twice a day, 
before feeding, which keeps the bowels in proper order, and the house 
dry and sweet, for it is ver}^ important that the bowels are open at this 
time, for, if constipated, the milk will not come freely, and the young 
seldom do well ; besides which, it interferes with the free passage of the 
urine, causing great uneasiness, and, if not removed, it would lead to 
serious consequences, for which purpose we give frequent injections of 
warm water, and walk the patient carefully out, for a few minutes at a 
time, until we see that the obstruction has passed. Sometimes we mix 
a little common soap in the warm water, and have never experienced 
much difficulty when these means have been used. 

"We give a moderate bed of short straw three or four days before 
they are expected to farrow, that it may become soft by the time they 
are due, which, as the time approaches, they will collect on a heap, and 
place themselves upon it in such a manner that by raising the body it 
assists tlieni in their efforts during parturition, and this, as well as most 
other matters at this time, we leave entirely to themselves, believing 
that they can mostly manage their own business best without our inter- 
ference. And except with very fat sows, or during very cold weather, 
we do not remain with them while farrowing, but give an occasional eye 
to them to see that there is no unusual dela3\ If the presentations are 
proper, they will often pass three or four in as many minutes, but when 
the hind feet are presented foremost, they get on slowly, and sometimes 
half the litter will come in this way,but assistance in such cases will mostly 
do more harm than good, for in drawing the birth by the hind legs, the 
viscera is forced into the chest, and the life is thereby endangered to ik> 
purpose, for if ever they get so far on their way as to be within the reach 
of ordinary aid, they will be passed safer without it, 
11 



242 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 

" The pigs usually begin to eat along with the mother when about 
three weeks old, but may be learnt much younger if a little warm milk 
be given to them two or three times a day, while the sow is removed 
from them for a few minutes. About the time they begin to eat, they 
frequently suffer from diarrhoea, which, if it continue for any length of 
time, will weaken them very much. The disorder will sometimes be 
caused by allowing the mother to eat grass or other green food when 
turned out, or even by a change from one kind of meat to anotber, for 
which reason we avoid as far as we can any change of food during the 
time they are suckling, and continue the same to the young after they 
are weaned. And as it is very difficult as well as dangerous to administer 
medicine to them by force, we do not attempt to relieve them by that 
means, neither can they be induced to take it if mixed with their food, 
for they will not eat at such times, but depend entirely on the teat, for 
Avhich reasons we diet th"& mother carefully, and alloAv as much small 
coal as she will eat, throwing a shovelful upon the bed, that the young 
ones may eat a little if they like ; we also strew the floor with sawdust 
to prevent bad smells, keeping them warm, and giving as much fresh air 
as possible. If the purging continues, we change them to a fresh sty, 
taking care that it is dry and warm, and well aired. If young pigs can 
be allowed a run out with the mother for half an hour in the morning 
and evening, they will grow all the faster for it; but the middle of the 
day, when the sun is hot, should be a^'oided, for if their backs get much 
scorched it will retard their growth for a while. 

"All such as are not required for breeding purposes, should be cas- 
trated at from four to five weeks old, that they may recover before they 
are weaned. There are two ways of doing most things, and the best 
way is generally the easier, and alwaj^s to be preferred, and in catching 
young pigs for castration, or any other purpose, great care should be 
used, as they are easily lamed, and having covered the window and closed 
the door to exclude the light, the operator should allow them to settle 
quietly in a corner, and taking the right hind leg with his right hand, 
then with his left hand he should lay firmly hold of the same leg, above 
the hough joint, and quickly passing liis right hand forward, and under 
the chest, lay firmly hold of the left fore leg, and raise the pig with his 
right hand, using as little force as possible on the hind legs, and never 
hold them up by the heels, as the intestines are liable to get twisted if 
held in that position. 

"We usually wean at from seven to ten weeks old, and separate the 
boars from the sows soon after. We seldom keep more than five or six 
together in the same sty, and as they grow larger, we reduce the num- 
ber, in proportion to the size of the sty. 

"The feeder commences in the morning about seven o'clock, begin- 
ning at one end, and regulating the food according to circumstances, 
and as he goes on, he rouses every pig up, and sees that all come to take 
their breakfast ; should any refuse he reports the case ; and having fin- 
ished feeding he takes his barrow, fork, shovel, and besom, and proceeds 



APPENDIX. 243 

in the same order to clean the sties ; for, on being roused up, after lay- 
ing still all night, they empty themselves while eating, and this becomes 
habitual and keeps their beds clean and dry, which is a matter of great 
importance to us, as we have all our straw to buy at a dear rate, and 
have to economise it accordingly, for which reason most of our sties are 
provided with wooden sleeping benches similar to that given in the de- 
scription of the breeding house. So proceeding to No. 1, he turns the 
occupants out, shakes up the bed, sweeps all clean, and taking up with 
the shovel what had to be removed, he places it in the barrow, returns 
them to their sty again, and passing on to No. 3, treating them in the 
same way, and so on to the end. By this means the sties are kept clean 
during the greater part of the day ; while out, they have free access to 
a heap of small coal, which is kept in a corner of the yard entirely for 
their use, of which they seldom fail to avail themselves, whenever they 
have an opportunity ; there is also a trough with water, of which they 
sometimes drink a little. 

" To enable pigs to thrive properly, they must be kept in a state of 
robust health, for which purpose, proper shelter and a certain amount 
of exercise, is quite as necessary as good feeding, and all dark, damp, 
crampy sties should be avoided. There is no place in which young 
growing stores do better than a good straw-yard during the winter 
months. 

''Pigs will occasionally catch cold, especially when in low condition; 
but, if taken in time, and placed in a warm sty by themselves, with a 
little extra nursing, such as warm milk and water, with a little bran or 
pollard, not forgetting the warm water injections if the bowels get out 
of order, they will mostly be right again in a few days. If the case be a 
bad one, and accompanied by much fever, and the patient will lie still, 
we cover up with a wet rag, leaving only the nose out, pouring cold wa- 
ter on to saturate it thoroughly, and then cover up with two or three 
sacks to keep the steam in, and have found this bath give very great re- 
lief Pigs have a very great objection to any kind of restraint, as well 
as a strong dislike to physic, and if held for the purpose of administer- 
ing it, they struggle and scream so much, that they do themselves more 
harm by it, than the medicine is likely to do them good; besides, if not 
done in a careful manner, there is great danger in forcing any liquid 
into their mouths, for if introduced while they are screaming, they are 
almost certain to be choked by it, so that the operator must wait until 
they have done screaming, which will mostly be when they are out of 
breath and cannot go on any longer, for which reason we have not used 
medicine for several years past. They have also a very decided objec- 
tion to strangers being admitted into their society, even if one of their 
fellows leave them for a few days, on their return they are beset and 
worried in a most unfriendly manner ; and if the intruder cannot find 
means of retreat, they will often get cut and gored a good deal; where 
the teeth penetrate beyond the skin, swellings will arise, which if they 
become very large, they may be carefully opened with a lance, or sharp 



244 HARRIS OX THE PIG. 

pointed knife, on the loAver side, directing the point upwards, that the 
matter may escape, when tliej' will soon heal without further trouble. 

"Fat heavy pigs are easily lamed in the hind-quarters or hind legs, 
and should be very carefully driven over slipj)ery or uneven ground. 
When so lamed, the butcher is the best remedy and the sooner the bet- 
ter, as they lose flesh fast, when they come to lie and cannot rise easily. 
They are also subject to rheumatic attacks, especially in the hind legs, 
which may easily be mistaken for accidental lameness ; sometimes they 
will suddenly become lame in one leg, and then the lameness will us 
suddenly change to the other, or i^erhaps leave them altogether. I con- 
sulted Professor Simonds, of the Royal Veterinary College, on this dis- 
ease, and he recommended a strong stimulating liniment, or liquid 
blister to be applied to the hough joint, and well rubbed in, and I have 
used it with very beneficial results ; also, if confined for any length of 
tim.e where the wet litter is allowed to accumulate under them, their 
hoofs grow to a great length, and the feet become unsound and full of 
clefts, when the hoofs should be shortened, for which purpose we use a 
pair of strong, wire-clipping pinchers, taking care not to injure the sensi- 
tive part of the foot, and trim with a shepherd's knife ; and for diseased 
feet Ave have found nothing so good as a bran poultice, with two or three 
spoonfuls of fresh brewer's yeast mixed with it, and put in a strong bug 
or boot, into which the foot is introduced, and secured with a string 
when the animal is laid down. It may be kept Avet bj'^ pouring water on 
it two or three times a day, and changed daily." 

T. L. Harison, Esq., Morley, St. Lawrence Co., N". Y., 
writes : 

"I do not think I can give you any ideas of value as to the breeds and 
breeding of pigs, for my experience has been with SufFolks only, and 
the breeding them has been with me a matter of great simplicity, and in 
Avhich I have found no difficulties to contend with. I have found the 
Suffolks hardy, prolific, good nurses, and good feeders. Those who 
have had barren sows have, I think, allowed them to get too fat before 
breeding. This is the only risk that I know of, and it is to be guarded 
against. My plan was to keep over such young sows as I selected for 
breeders generally from fall litters, but seldom from spring litters. 
These were lasually kept in a yard or in a small grass field, so that they 
were on the ground and had plenty of exercise, and Avhen served about 
December 1st would be from 14 to 16 months old and in fair (cxti-a, per- 
haps) store condition. After they were with pig, they Avould of course 
during the Avinter get fat, but in my breeding that never did any harm. 
My only trouble A\'as in the loss of young pigs, in consequence of the 
milk of their mothers being too rich. This makes it necessar}' to be 
careful hoAv you feed the soavs Avhile suckling, and I found that bran 
Avith the refuse of the house made a better food than grain at such times. 

" I do not know about plans of pig pens. I have ne\'er seen any that 
I thought had much merit. In fact, I would never use pens, except for 



I 



APPEJS^DIX. 245 

fattening bogs, for the boars in use, and occasionally for breeding sows 
before farrowing; but, except in the first case, there should be small 
yards attached. The best place for j)igs is a yard with a well-made shed 
attached, the shed having doors that can be closed in very severe weather." 

Hon. John M. Milliken, of Maplewood, Hamilton, 
Ohio, in addition to the facts already quoted in regard to 
the Bntler County or Magie pigs, writes as follows : " I 
wish to add the following statement furnished me by one 
of our breeders, whose truthfuhiess is unquestioned. He 
bred a sow Avhich came on the 10th of June, 1866. On 
the 18th of April, 1867, she had 11 pigs, which weighed, 
gross, in October following, 2,735 lbs. 

" He fattened the sow the winter following, and her net 
weight was 535 lbs. The sow pigs he left for breeders, 
and sold 5 barrows, aged 8 months and 20 days, which av- 
eraged 282 lbs. net. The history of this sow and her 11 
pigs proves that they possessed early fattening properties, 
large size, and fecundity, — three very desirable qualities." 



246 



HARRIS ON THE PIG. 



INDEX 



Allen's, B. A., importation of Berk- 
shire 99 

Appendix 237 

Bakeweirs, Robert, breed of pigs.. 18 

Barley, Composition of ... 133 

" Value in feeding 131 

Bean meal, Value in feeding 126 

Beans as food for pigs 233 

" Composition of 133 

Bedfordshire breed 93 

Berkshire breed 50, 74 

" A. B. Allen's importation. 99 

" and Tamworth cross 33 

" Crosses of 32 

" Improved 76 

intheU. S 98 

Black and Red pigs 86 

Black breeds 73 

Blister for pigs 234 

Boar, Selection of 192 

" Treatment of thorough-bred. 206 
BouBsingault's experiments in feed- 
ing 118 

Bran, Composition of 133 

" for pigs... 239 

" Value in feeding 126 

Breeding and management of pigs 

192, 239 

Breeding, Objects in 15 

" Principles of 16 

Bi'eeding-pens 200 

Breeds of pigs 14 

Breeds, Definition of large, small, 

and medium 25 

Breeds, Large vs. small 22 

Leading English 232 

" Leading in the U. S 232 

" Modern English 56 

" in the U. S 98 

" Sidney on large and small.. 32 

Buckinghamshire breed 97 

Bushey breed 97 

Butler Co., Ohio, pigs 113 

Cattle, Gain from feeding 13 

" Weight, Live and dead 192 

Castration. Time for 233 

Chase's, A. L., Essex pigs 84 



" Cheshire " breed 57, 94, 111 

Chester Co. White breed 105 

" " Hog-breed- 
ers' Manual on. 110 
" Paschal 

Morris on 106 

Chinese breed .51 

Codfish, Composition of 133 

" Value in feeding 133 

Coleshill breed 96 

Colds in young pigs 217 

Compost, Pig making 142 

Constipation 210 

Cooking food for pigs 222 

Craonnaire Boar 45 

Crosses of thorough-breds 35 

Culley on Cheshire pigs ,. 57 

Cumberland small breed 63 

Davis', Hewitt, experience in pig 

feeding 30 

Desirable qualities in a pig 20 

Devons 33, 87 

Diarrhoea in young pigs 217 

Diseases of pigs 234 

Disinfectants 234 

Dorsets 32, 88 

Dry earth for pigs 234 

" Emperor." 53 

English breeds, Improvement of .. . 47 
English experiences in pig feeding.181 
Essex, Fisher Hobbs' improve- 
ments in 53, 82 

Essex, Improved 80 

" " Crosses of .32 

" " History of 52 

" Imported 100 

" Lord Western's 82 

Old 52 

Experiments in pig feeding 118, 122 

Fancy breeds 95 

Fattening pigs near large cities 178 

Feeding, A dairy farmer on 187 

" A Yorkshire breeder on.. 188 

" A Yorkshire farmer on. . .186 

" Dr. M. Miles' experiments 118 

" English experience in 181 

" Exneriments in 118 



INDEX. 



Sir 



Feeding Grain 225 

" Lawes and Gilbert's ex- 
periments in 122 

" Mineral substances neces- 
sary in 130 

" Mr. Baldwin on 182 

" Use of sugar in 135 

Feet, Unsound 244 

Fisher Hobbs' improvements in 

Essex 53 

Fisher, John, Lecture on breeding 

and management 239 

Food, Cooking 222 

Form of a fat pig 236 

" of a good pig 17 

French pigs 45 

"General." 68 

German pigs 45 

Gestation, Period of 233 

" Gloucester." 67 

Good pigs need good care 37 

Grade pigs, Value of 100 

Greyhound hog . . 44 

Hampshire pig 49, 91 

Herefordshire breed 50, 94 

Howai'd, James, M. P., on pigs 239 

Impi-ovement of the English breeds 

of pigs 47 

In-and-in breeding 35 

Indian meal. Composition of 133 

" " Value in feeding 126 

Intestines, Proportion to weight of 

body 11 

Itch 234 

Jealousy an aid to fattening 230 

Jeffei-son County breed Ill 

Large vs. small breeds and crosses. 22 
Lawes and Gilbert's experiments 

in pig fee'ding 122 

Lecture by John Fisher. 239 

Lentil meal. Value in feeding 126 

Lentils, Composition of 133 

" Liberator." 67 

Lice, To destroy 234 

Lincolnshii-e breed 57, 92 

Liquid manure. . 143 

Live and dead weight of pigs 191 

Lord Western's Essex 52 

Mackelcan, J., on management 237 

Magie (Ohio) breed 113, 245 

Management of pigs 175, 237 

" of thorough-bred pigs. 203 
Mange 234 



Mangles', George, experience in 

feeding 25 

Mangles', George, piggery 163 

Manure, Table of value of 139 

Manure, The pig as a manufacturer 

of 141 

" Value of liquid 143 

" Value to each 100 lbs. of 

pork 141 

" Value of pig 137 

Measles 235 

Michigan Agricultural College, Pig- 
gery, etc 147 

Middlesex breed 95 

Miles' Dr. M. experiments in feedingllS 
MilHken, Hon. J. M., on Magie 

pigs 113, 245 

Mineral food for pigs 130 

"Miss Emily." 70 

Modern breeds of English pigs 56 

Morris', Paschal, piggery 154 

Neapolitan breed 52 

Norfolk breed 93 

Nottinghamshire breed 95 

Ogden Farm piggery 160 

Oil-cake for pigs . .* 233 

Old Irish pig 44 

Old Yorkshire breed 57 

Original Old English pig 43 

Origin and improvement of our do- 
mestic pigs 41 

Oxfordshire, Improved 85 

Ox, Stomach of 9 

Peas for pigs 233 

" Raising, for pigs 177 

Pen-breeding 200 

Petroleum on pigs 234 

Pig, Desirable Qualities in 20 

" Form of a good 17 

" Quietness in 21 

" Stomach of 9 

Pig feeding 11 

" " Hewitt Davison 30 

" " Why they gain more 

rapidly than oxen or sheep. ... 12 

Pigs on dairy farms 175 

" on grain farms 176 

" Origin and improvement of . . 41 

" Peas for 177 

" Profit of raising thorough- 
bred.. 220 

" require gentle treatment 42 

" Breeding and rearing 192 



248 



HARRIS ON 



Pigs, Breeds of. 14 

" Cookiug food for 222 

" Fattening near large cities. . .178 

" Lame. 244 

" Management of. 175 

" Management of thorough- 
bred 203 

" Young, Care of 196, 242 

" " Catching 242 

" " Colds in 217 

" " Diarrhoea in 217, 243 

" " Feeding 212 

" " Management of. 217 

" " Taming 219 

" " Time to wean... 197, 242 

-" " Treatment of chilled. 212 

Piggery, The author's 148 

" George Mangles' 163 

" Michigan Agricultural Col- 
lege 147 

" Mr. Roseburgh's 158 

" Ogden Farm 160 

" Paschal Morris' 154 

" Tattenliall (Eng.) 166 

Piggeries and pig pens 144 

Pig pens 144 

" Location of. 144 

Pig troughs 169 

" " Cast-iron 174 

" " Convenient 172 

" " hewn out of a log 170 

" " Plank 171 

" " Swinging door 173 

Pork, Food required to produce 100 

lbs 11 

Prince Albert's pigs 96 

Profit of raising thorough-bred 

pigs 222 

Protrusion of rectum 236 

Pulping roots 228 

Rectum, Protrusion of 236 

Rheumatism 236,244 

Roseburgh's, Mr., piggery 158 

Sheep, Lawes' experiments in feed- 
ing 22 

" Stomach of 9 

" Live and dead weight of. 192 

Shropshire breed 94 

Sidney on large and small breeds.. 32 

Soaking grain for pigs 228 

Sow at farrowing t ime 194, 241 

" Breeding, Management of. 241 

" Feeding a suckling 214 



THE PIG. ^Bi 

Sow lying on pigs 211 ^f' 

" Selection of 193 

" taking the boar 233 

" Treatment of thorough-bred.. 209 
Spring pigs, Rearing and manage- 
ment of 200 

Stickney's, Isaac and Josiah, impor- 
tation of Suffolk 100 

Stomach, Importance of a good 20 

of OS, Weight of 9 

" of pig, Weight Of. 9 

" Proportion to weight of 

body 11 

" of sheep. Weight of 9 

Stone, F. W., on pigs 238 

SuSblk and other white breeds 72 

Suffolk breed 92 

"• grades 103 

" introduced into Boston... 100 

Sugar as food for pigs 135 

Summary 232 

Sus Indica 41 

Sus scrofa ." 41 

Swellings, Treatment of 243 

Swill barrels 169 

Swill barrel, Portable 170 

Swill tub 170 

Tam worth breed 86, 87 

Tarn worth and Berkshire cross... . 33 

Tapeworm 235 

Tattenhall piggery 166 

Thorough-bred pig, Value of 35 

Value of a thorough-bred pig 35 

" of pig manure 137 

Warwickshire breed 86 

Weight of pigs, Live and dead. . . .191 
" of different parts of a pig. .191 

Weaning young pigs 197 

Welsh pigs • 94 

White Leicesters 59, 72 

W^ild boar 41 

Wild hogs 41 

Windsor breed 96 

'•Windsor Castle" 99 

Woburn breed 33, 94 

Yelt 66 

York-Cumberland breed 65 

Yorkshire grades 103 

introduced into the U. S.IOO 

" large breed 59 

" middle or medium breed. 69 
small breed 63 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Diagram of, Testing the Form of a Good Pig Page IS 

Wild Boars ^ .42 

WRd Boar 13 

Original Old English Pig 43 

Old Irish Pig 44 

French Prize Boar — Craonnaire White 40 

Chinese Sow — Imported 48 

Berkshire Fig—iLoudon) 49 

Hampsliire Pig " 40 

Herefordshire Pig " 50 

Suffolk Pig '• 51 

Berlvshire Sow 51 

Yorkshire Large Bree»;l, "• Sir Roger de Coverly." 58 

Yorkshiro Large Breed, " Parian Dnchess." .... 60 

Yorkshire Large Breed, " Golden Days*.'' 02 

Cumberland- York Boar — Small Breed. (U 

York-Cumberland Pig— Small Breed (Ui 

Yorkshire Middle Breed— ^' Miss Emily." CS 

White Leicester Boar and Sow — Small Breed 7G 

Berkshire, Improved— Smithfield Club Fat Prize Sow T5 

Berkshire, Improved. Middle Breed, Boar TT 

Essex, Improved — "Emperor.'" T9 

Essex, Lord Western's ^^ 

Essex Boar, L. A. Chase's S3 

Essex Sows " " S3, 84 

Chester Comity White Pig 105 

Jefferson County Pig ^. HI 

Piggery, Michigan Agricultural College 147 

Piggery, Ground Plan of Michigan Agricultural College 148 

Piggery, Plan of the Author's 151 

Piggery, Paschal Morris' 154 

Pigg-'ry, Ground Plan of Paschal Morris' 155 

Piggery, Mr. Rosebnrgh's 157 

Piggery, Ground Plan of Mr. Roseburgh's 150 

Piggery, Partition in " " 1''0 

Piggery, Ground Plan of Ogden Farm I'il 

Piggery, Cross Section of Ogden Farm 1'!- 

249 



J250 HARRIS OX THE PIG. 

Piggery, Elevation of Ogden Farm 162 

Shed for Fattening Pigs, Mr. Mangles' 163 

Shed, Ground Plan of " " 163 

Shed, Isometrical \iew of " " 165 

Piggery, Covered Food House at Tattenhall 166 

Pigscry, Gionnd Fiaii of Covered Food House at Tattenhall , 167 

Portable t^will Barrel 170 

Pig Tn)u-h— Hewn Out of a Log 170 

Pig Trough, Plank 171 

Pig Trough, Convenient \ 172 

Pig Trough, Swinging Door 173 

Pig Trough, Swing Door to 174 

Pig Trough, Cast-iron 174 

Brood Sow— Property of the Duke of Bnccleuch 180 

Jealousy as an Aid to Fattening 231 



AMERICAN CATTLE: 

Their History, Breeding, and Management. 

By LEWIS F. ALLEN, 

Late President New-York State Agricultural Society, Editor "American 
Short-Horn Herd Book," Author " Rural Architecture," etc., etc. 

Notices by the Press. 

We consider this the most valuable work that has recently been issued 
from the American press. It embraces all branches of the important subject, 
and fills a vacancy in our agricultural literature for which work the author, by 
his many years' experience and observation, was eminently fitted. ... It 
ought to be in the hands of every owner of cattle, and the country, as well as 
individuals, would soon be much richer for its teachings.— Jcmrna^ of Agri- 
culture, (St. Louis.) 

The large experience of the author in improving the character of Ameri- 
can herds adds to the weight of his observations, and has enabled him to pro- 
duce a work which will at once make good its claims as a standard authority 
on the subject. An excellent feature of this volume is its orderly, methodical 
arrangement, condensing a great variety of information into a comparatively 
small compass, and enabling the reader to find the point on which he is seek- 
ing light, without wasting his time in turning over the leaves.— iV. Y. Tribune. 

This will rank among the standard works of the country, and will be con- 
sidered indispensable by every breeder of live-stock.— Pr«ci!ic«; Farmer, (P/iila.) 

We think it is the most complete work upon neat stock that we have 
seen, embodying as it does a vast amount of research and careful study and 
observation. — Wisconsin Farmer. 

His history of cattle in general, and of the individual breeds in particular 
■which occupies the first one hundred and eighty pages of the volume, is writ- 
ten with much of the grace and charm of an Allison or a Macaulay. His ae^ 
Bcription of the leading breeds is illustrated by cuts of a bull, a cow, and a 
fat ox, of each race. The next one hundred pages are devoted to the sub- 
ject of Breeding. This is followed by chapters on Beef Cattle, Working Oxen, 
Milch Cows, Cattle Food, Diseases, etc. The arrangement, illustrations, an- 
alytical index, etc., of the work are in the best style of modern book-mak- 
ing. — New-England Farmer. 

The work is one that has been long needed, as it takes the place of the 
foreign books of like nature to which our farmers have been obliged to refer, 
and furnishes in a compact and well-arranged volume all they desire upon this 
important subject. — Maine Farmer. 

Whatever works the stock-farmer may already have, he can not afibrd to 
do without this. — Ohio Farmer. 

It is one of the best treatises within our knowledge, and "contains infor- 
mation sound and sensible on every page. — The People, {Concord, N. H.) 

The object of the work, as stated by the author in his preface, " is not only 
to give a historical acccount of the Bovine race, to suggest to our farmers and 
cattle-breeders the best methods of their production and management, but to 
exalt and ennoble its pursuit to the dignity to which it is entitled in the vari- 
ous departments of American agriculture." From the little examination we 
have been able to give it, we can not recommend it too highly. — Canada 
Farmer. 

Considering that there are some ten million milch cows in the United 
States, and nearly a thousand million of dollars Invested in cattle, the magni, 
tude of this interest demands that the best skilled talent be devoted to the 
improvement of the various breeds and the investigation of the best method 
of so caring for the animals as to gain the greatest profit from them. This 
volume will give the farmer just the instruction which he wants. — N. T. Inde- 
pendent. 

Price, post-paid, $2.50. 

ORANGE JUDD & CO., 

245 Broadway, New- York. 



NEW AMERICAN FARM BOOK. 



H 



ORIGrNALLT BY 



▲ITTHOB or 



DISEASES OP DOMESTIC ANIMALS, AND FOBMERLT 3DIT0B OF 
THE "AMEEICAN AGBICULTUKIST." 

REVISED AND ENLARGED BT 

AUTHOR OF "AMERICAN CATTLE," EDITOR OF THE "AMEEICAN SHORT-HOBN 

HERD BOOK," ETC. 

C OI^TEN^T S: 



Introdttction. — Tillage Husbandry 
—Grazing — Feeding — Breeding — 
Planting, etc. 

Chapter I. — Soils — Classification — 
Description — Management — Pro- 
perties. 

Chapter II. — Inorganic Manures- 
Mineral — Stone — Earth — Phos- 
phatic. 

Chaptee in. — Organic Manures — 
Their Composition — Animal — Ve- 
getable. 

Chaptek TV. — ^Irrigation and Drain- 
ing. 

Chaptee V. — ^Mechanical Divisions 
of Soils — Spading — Plowing— Im- 
plements. 

Chapter VI.— The Grasses— Clovers 
— Meadows — Pastures — Compara- 
tive Values of Grasses — Implements 
for their Cultivation. 

Chapter VII.— Grain, and its Culti- 
vation — Varieties — Growth — Har- 
vesting. 

Chapter VIII.— Leguminous Plants 
—The Pea— Bean — English Field 
Bean— Tare or Vetch— Cultivation 
—Harvesting. 

Chapter IX.— Roots and Esculents— 
Varieties— Growth — Cultivation — 
Securing the Crops— Uses— Nutri- 
tive Equivalents of Different Kinds 
of Forage. 

Chapter X.— Fruits— Apples— Cider 
—Vinegar— Pears— Quinces— Plums 
Peaches — Apricots — Nectarines — 
Smaller Fruits— Planting— Cultiva- 
tion— Gathering— Preserving. 

Chapter XI.— Miscellaneous Objects 
of Cultivation, aside from the Or- 
dinary Farm Crops— Broom-corn— 
Flax— Cotton— Hemp— Sugar Cane 
Sorghum— Maple Sugar -Tobacco— 
Indigo— Madder— Wood— Sumach- 
Teasel —Mustard — Hops — Castor 
Bean. 

Chapter XII.— Aids and Objects of 
Agriculture — Rotation of Crops, 
*nd their Effects— Weeds— Restora- 



tion of Worn-out Soils — Fertilizing 
Barren Lands — Utility of Birds — 
Fences — Hedges — Farm Roads — 
Shade Trees— Wood Lands — Time 
of Cutting Timber — Tooh — Agri- 
cultural Education of the Farmer. 

Chapter XIII. — Farm Buildings — 
House — Barn — Sheds — Cisterns — 
Various other Outbuildings— Steam- 
ing Apparatus. 

Chapter XIV. — ^Domestic Animals 
— ^Breeding — Anatomy— Respiration 
— Consumption of Food. 

Chapter XV. — Neat or Homed Cattle 
Devons — Herefords — Ayreshires — 
Galloways — Short - horns — Alder- 
neys or Jerseys — Dutch or Holstein 
— Management from Birth to Milk- 
ing, Labor, or Slaughter. 

Chapter XVI.— The Dairy- Milk- 
Butter — Cheese — Different Kinds- 
Manner of Working. 

Chapter XVII. — Sheep — Merino^ 
Saxon— South Down — The Long- 
wooled Breeds — Cotswold— Lincoln 
— Breeding — Management — Shep- 
herd Dogs. 

Chapter XVIII. — The Horse— De- 
scription of Different Breeds — Their 
Various Uses — Breeding — Manage- 
ment. 

Chapter XIX. — The Ass — Mule — 
Comparative Labor of Working 
Animals. 

Chapter XX. — Swine — Different 
Breeds — Breeding — Rearing — Fat- 
tening — Curing Pork and Hams. 

Chapter XXI. — Poultry — Ht-ns, or 
Barn-door Fowls — Turkey — Pea- 
cock—Guinea Hen— Goose — Duck 
— Honey Bees. 

Chapter XXII. — Diseases of Ani- 
mals—What Authority Shall We 
Adopt ? — Sheep — Swine — Treat- 
ment and Breeding of Horses. 

Chapter XXIII. — Conclusion — Gene- 
ral Remarks — The Farmer who 
Lives by his Occupation — The Ama- 
teur Farmer— Sundry Useful Tables. 



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